Son of the Wild
by NinjaRiderWriter
Summary: Jordan Hunter has always known he was different, but he never thought he would be a son of a Greek God, add on to the fact his best friend is Percy Jackson and suddenly finds himself thrust into a world of heroes and monsters, what is he to do when it is discovered he is the son of the most unexpected God of all?
1. Our Math Teacher Is A Demon

**Disclaimer: I do not own Percy Jackson and the Olympians, all rights go to Rick Riordan, this is merely a story created by my imagination ****insert more legal stuff here*****.**

I always thought I was a normal kid, or at least compared to normal people. You see I always knew I was different from the other kids, maybe because my eyes changed color or that we always moved around so much I have never really thought of anything as home.

It was just my mom and I. I don't know much about my dad. Mom says that she met him during a protest rally about some politician mucking up some big lake with a whole bunch of garbage. He was there too and when he and mom met it just… clicked. Well that's what mom says. He was so kind and he was so passionate about nature and the earth.

Oh wow Jordan's dad is a hippy!

Shut up, a guy can like nature and not being some stoner hippy living in a rainbow van that wouldn't look out of place in a Scooby Doo episode. Though if he had any of those stupid lava lamps in it then yeah he's a hippy, mom assures me there were no lava lamps in the van. So that reassuring, I guess.

Where was I? Oh yeah me being different. See I'm different from other kids. I'm only 12 and am at least a couple inches taller than the tallest boy in my grade, and my eyes changed color a lot. Pretty sure I mention it earlier.

I have dark brown hair that spikes up slightly and I'm pretty tan for someone who used to live in Colorado. Right now my eyes are dark green. And I don't mean just green I mean _green_. Mom always tells me when my eyes are green that they reminded her of the leaves of trees, the grass on the ground, the moss on a tree trunk, blah blah blah. Other times my eyes are dark brown, mom says they look like the earth and the tree trunks. Right now my eyes are blue, if I'm in a good mood then their bright blue like the sky but if I'm in a bad mood then they can be as dark as the ocean.

My mom always told me about how much I reminded her of my father, I didn't know if I should be happy and proud or resentful. It was true I didn't look a lot like my mother, she was tall like me but had red hair and light brown eyes. No matter what happened she always had a small smile on her face, she was content with her life, I had never seen her cry before.

Enough about my weird eyes, I doubt you care that much anyway, guess I was rambling.

My life has always been a little whack, what with my mom, being the nature fanatic she, always went to every protest and rally to defend the earth. No she's not a hippy, she doesn't have any lava lamps, trust me if she did I'd have gotten rid of them the second I saw them. But yeah we've always been on the road, so I don't have that much friends, not the kind you always talk to. I never had time to make friends.

I spend a lot of time in the woods; we were always surrounded by them so it wasn't that hard. Who knows I guess mom rubbed off on me, I hate pollution and if I ever find any trash in the woods I'll pick it up and make sure there isn't anymore.

I may not have any human friends but I do have some furry ones. For some reason I always feel drawn to the woods, anything filled with plants and life. I guess the woods are the closest thing I have to a home.

Animals seem to love me as well. I mean seriously they adore me. One time when I was six I got lost in the woods, I was crying calling for my mom. It was getting dark and I was just a kid and was terrified.

Then all of sudden a huge shadow appeared behind me, I turned around and the biggest bear I've ever seen in my life was standing in front of me. The bear was a grizzly, a big one.

Mom always warned me that bears are very dangerous if you aren't careful, you have to be calm. But I freaked and fell down flat on my butt and scuttled backwards like a crab.

Yeah real heroic, huh.

But the bear didn't look like it wanted to eat me, instead the bear looked at me with her, because something made me realize the grizzly was a girl, big brown eyes and I didn't see any dark emotions, I saw…. Love? I guess it was love; I don't know I was six man!

The next thing I knew she was nuzzling me like I was one of her cubs, I remember giggling and playing with her soft fur. I somehow managed to get on the bears back and I felt like the king of the world riding on a grizzlies back.

I wasn't scared anymore, and soon enough the bear somehow knew where my distraught mother was. She looked like she was about to have a heart attack when she saw her six-year-old son emerging from the woods on a grizzly bear's back.

I got off the bear's back and it gave me a big lick from my toes to my head and I hugged her massive head, and then she vanished into the woods.

We quickly left after that, I never saw the bear again.

Then there was time when I was ten. Mom had dropped me off at school I had been at for a couple of months, something rare for me.

During a field trip to a state park one of my teachers Ms. Lamia, we all called her miss lame behind her back, asked me to walk with. Confused I did until we were far away from the group.

She always did creep me out, she _never_ blinked. And whenever I had her class all she would do was stare at me with anger and some other emotion.

And then something happened that would forever haunt me.

"You think you could fool us!" Ms. Lamia suddenly hissed at me, making me jump. Her voice sounded scratched like her whole throat had been used against sandpaper.

"W-What?" I stuttered confused.

"You will die, you should not have been born. Your father should have died long ago, I will not have his line continue!" she hissed at me.

"My dad?" I asked confused before realizing Ms. Lame knew about my dad, "wait you know about my dad? Who is he? Why isn't he here? When did you last see him!" mom never liked to talk about my dad, it made her sad and I hated to make her sad.

"Don't act like you don't know, half-blood!"

"A what-" I stopped talking as Ms. Lamia's form suddenly shuddered and shifted. I looked with boggled eyes as my English teacher suddenly turned into some _thing._

Ms. Lamia suddenly didn't have legs. It was like some sort of tail, like a Cobra's. Her top half was still human but her eyes. They were staring straight at me, right into my soul. Add of the fact she never blinked and looked like she wanted to set my soul on fire made me even more freaked out.

_Stay calm_. A voice spoke in my head, it was deep but still soft. It reminded me of a soft wind. I felt something flood through my body, I felt immediately more energized and calm. A soft wind seemed to be coming out of me, even though it was late fall I smelled early spring, flowers blooming, and all sorts of different scents I would recognize in the woods.

My first thought was, _great first my English teacher turns into some sort of snake lady and now I have a voice in my head._

Ms. Lamia's eyes narrowed before she laughed, "foolish child, do you think you can beat me? Do you know who I am? I am Lamia, the child devourer. You will be a tasty little snack."

The power surging in me suddenly left my body, I could feel it moving through the air, like some sort of force field it seemed to blow everything.

But wind wasn't going to stop some crazy snake lady from eating me. I immediately decided to book it and ran as fast as I can.

I never realized then, but snakes can move _fast._ She was easily keeping up with me; I knew she was toying with me.

"Run little half-blood, run!" she cried in amusement as she chased after me.

_Oh man, oh man I'm going to die!_ I thought as I ran through the woods as fast as my ten-year-old legs could carry me. I tripped over a root and tumbled in a small clearing, Lamia was on one side and I on the other.

"This chasing is fun and all," Lamia giggled, "but I think I'll just eat you right now."

Then all of a sudden growls echoed through the clearing, and then I saw them. Every animal that lived in the forest was suddenly surrounding us.

From bears to foxes, to wolves to mountain lions, they were all there. Every dangerous predator was surrounding me.

I thought they were going to come after me, after all I was the smaller, weaker target and I probably smelled better than Lamia who reeked of snake and what he assumed was dead things, he always knew she smelled rank. But he didn't know she ate kids!

But to his surprise they were all glaring at Lamia and as one raced towards her, she shrieked in terror before trying to run away.

They easily caught up to her, a huge pile of predators on top of the struggling Lamia. Soon she exploded into gold dust, I just stood there gapping like an idiot.

And as quickly as they had come the predators left, not before giving me a warm gaze before they returned to their home.

I hobbled towards the spot where Ms. Lame had exploded and I saw the last traces of the dust fly away in the wind.

I was shaken pretty bad, but can you blame me. I managed to get back to the tour group and ignored all of their questions and instead focused on ignoring them until I got home.

When I got to our small apartment I immediately told my mother everything, she was the one person I could trust with anything.

My mom looked at me with worry, as though something she hoped wouldn't happen had. We immediately moved, despite my begging my mother wouldn't tell me what happened.

Sometimes I hope that the whole thing was a dream, my life would have been simpler if it was.

Two years had passed and now I had surprisingly been sent to a boarding school, mom had been hesitant about it but I was excited. Sure I wouldn't see mom as much but I could actually do a full year at school in the same school and actually make friends.

So most of the school year I had found myself at Yancy Academy in New York City. It was pretty cool in his opinion, despite being ADHD and having dyslexia he loved school. Sure it was hard to read sometimes but if he tried than he could get through it without to much trouble.

We all had dorms at the school, my dorm mates were two guys named Percy Jackon and Grover Underwood.

They were defiantly my best friends here, me and Percy easily became best friends, we had the same personality. We were lovable goof balls who never really listened to rules unless they were forced to. Percy had a troubled life, his real dad had become lost at sea when he was just a kid and had an asshole of a father, he also seemed to bounce through schools like a rubber ball.

When Jordan had told Percy that he had never known his dad either and he had never really stayed in one school for enough time to make friends, it brought the two together.

The other boy Grover was an interesting kid. He was even taller than Jordan and seemed to have a beard growing even though he was in the sixth grade, he was also crippled as he needed crutches to get around.

When Jordan and Percy had caught of couple of guys making fun of Grover they immediately stood up for him, the three became inseparable after that. But Jordan was a little wary of Grover, sometimes the guy would stare at him and Percy when he thought they weren't looking. For Percy he looked nervous and maybe even a tad bit scared, for Jordan he looked like he was trying to put together a puzzle that he had been trying to solve for years and Jordan was the final piece.

Jordan didn't mention any of it. Grover was a good friend. Plus Jordan doubted Percy noticed it, the kid was dense sometimes. So he kept quiet about it.

Right now Jordan was eating cereal in the empty cafeteria, Percy was still asleep in his bunk while Grover was probably studying for a test.

Jordan was looking at his Greek mythology textbook, he frowned when he couldn't find anything about Medusa that he could put into his paper. _Crunch_. Jordan glanced at his spoon and saw that the top piece of the spoon was missing.

I sighed, "not again," he muttered. For some reason Jordan could bite through metal and eat it and wasn't bother by it, it gave him a heart attack the first time it happened though.

Jordan then noticed Percy entering the dinning area, rubbing his eyes tiredly. Jordan immediately threw the bitten spoon to the side and pretended to look at his textbook.

Percy sat down next to him munching on a bagel, "you know you should be studying," Jordan advised the dark-haired boy with a small chuckle.

"It's not fair!" Percy complained, "you have dyslexia too but your still really smart!"

Jordan chuckled as he closed the textbook, "maybe because I actually study?"

Percy rolled his eyes and reached for the other half of the bagel but Jordan swiped it before Percy could get it, "Hey!" Percy said.

Jordan munched on the bagel, "you should get ready, we have a field trip today."

"Joy, I wonder what's going to happen to get me kicked out this time, I'll probably make the building explode or something."

Jordan pointed his bagel at the near teenager, "you sir are a ray of sunshine."

Percy laughed at that and the two headed to the bus, Grover was waiting for them.

Yeah Jordan didn't really thinking packing 28 mental kids on a school bus on the way to the Art Museum was a smart idea, he knew the principle had warned Percy that if anything funny happened on the trip he would not be allowed to go to Yancy anymore.

Luckily Mr. Brunner, who was our Latin teacher, was going to come on the trip so at least it would be fun.

Mt. Brunner was a middle-aged guy in a motorized wheelchair. He had thinning hair and a scruffy beard and a frayed tweed jacket, which always smelled like coffee. Though Jordan was pretty sure he smelled horse a couple of time, which made no sense.

You wouldn't think he'd be one of those cool teacher, but he told stories and jokes in class and let us play games in class. He also had this awesome collection of Roman armor and weapons, so he was really the only class Percy didn't sleep in.

On the bus ride there the local bully, Nancy Bobofit, the freckly, redheaded girl who had a stealing problem. She thought it would be funny to throw chunks of her peanut butter and ketchup sandwich at the back of his head.

"I'm going to kill her," Jordan heard Percy mutter as he glared daggers at the redhead.

"It's okay," Grover said as he dodged another wad of the nasty sandwich, "I like peanut butter." He quickly dodged another one.

"That's it," I heard Percy mumble as he slowly stood up but he and Grover held him down, "not worth it man, the head will use any excuse to get you kicked out." I said before I stood up and glared at Nancy, who immediately stopped throwing stuff at us.

"Hey Bobo, stop throwing stuff at us!" I said as glared at the redhead. For some reason she listened to me, Percy thinks its because she has a crush on me while Grover thinks I scare her. I'm hoping for option two.

The bus soon arrived at the museum, Mr. Brunner led the class through the Roman and Greek gallery explaining every piece.

He gathered all of the students around a thirteen – foot - tall stone column with a big sphinx on the top, and started telling everyone how it was a grave marker, a stele, for a girl about their age. Percy, Grover, and I hung out a little in the back listening to Mr. Brunner but it was hard with everyone talking to their buddies.

"Will you shut up!" Percy hissed towards Nancy but everyone heard him, Mr. Brunner stopped talking, "is there a problem Mr. Jackson?"

Percy's face turned red, "no sir."

Mr. Brunner than pointed to one of the scenes on the stele, "perhaps you'll tell us what this picture represents?"

Percy looked at the picture and after a couple of seconds he said, "that Kronos eating his kids right?"

Mr. Brunner didn't look satisfied with the rest of the answer, Mr. Brunner turned to me. "Mr. Hunter, can you tell me why Kronos ate his children?"

I racked my brain before I remembered the answer, "Kronos was told a prophecy that one of his children would overthrow him, so when his wife Rhea gave birth to a child he quickly gobbled it up, it was only after Kronos has eaten so many of his kids Rhea decided to take measures into her own hands. She disguised a rock as her child and when Kronos ate the rock she hid the baby, who was Zeus, and had him raised away from the Titan's home. Zeus grew up and grew stronger and one day he confronted his father, who didn't know who he was, and gave him some wine mixed in with something nasty which made Kronos throw up his siblings."

"EWWW!" A bunch of girls said.

"And there was a big war and the Gods won," I finished somewhat lamely.

Behind me I heard Nancy grumble, "like we're going to use this in real life," she said to a friend, "like its going to say on our job applications, 'Please explain why Kronos ate his kids.'"

Mr. Brunner turned back to Percy, "And to answer Ms. Bobofits excellent question, does this matter in real life?"

Percy shrugged, "I don't know, sir."

Mr. Brunner looked disappointed, "well full credit Mr. Hunter you were right on the reason why Kronos ate his children and half credit to you Mr. Jackson. Now I believe its time for lunch."

As we went out of the building I saw a door leading into an area we had not been in.

I always liked Greek mythology so I was actually interested about the stuff. So I went inside it. I saw a large statue in the middle of the room, I somehow found myself in front of it and I got a better look.

It was a large statue, probably bigger than the stele. It depicted a person who was half goat and half man. He was playing the pan flutes and all around him people and animals were looking at him in adoration. I tried to read the label but my dyslexia wouldn't allow me to read it.

"Pan," Mr. Brunner's voice made me jump out of my skin, "Lord of the of nature, shepherds, and pretty much anything that relates to the wild. Disappeared over two thousand years ago."

"Sorry Mr. B," I apologized, "I'm probably not allowed in here."

Mr. Brunner smiled warmly at me, "its alright my boy, it warms my old heart to see the younger generation show an apitude towards Greek myths."

I blushed scarlet red, "your not the old, sir."

Mr. Brunner laughed, "oh you'd be surprised."

I shifted my feet as I continued to look at the statue of Pan, "it's weird," I muttered to myself.

"What's weird?"

I forgot Mr. Brunner had radar ears.

I shrugged, "I don't know it's just..." I looked at Pan's face... it looked familiar, "I just feel... connected to him." I chuckled as I rubbed my head, "you probably think I'm crazy."

Mr. Brunner was staring at me, I shifted uncomfortably at his gaze. I felt like he was looking into my soul, trying to figure me out. It reminded me of Lamia.

_"Run little Half Blood, run!" _Lamia's voice rang into my head, I looked at Mr. Brunner, he's a latin teacher maybe he knew something.

"Sir can I ask you a question?" at Mr. Brunner's warm smile and a nod I slowly spoke, "do you know... know what a half blood is?"

I watched in surprise as Mr. B's face seemed to pale, he looked at me with surprise and a bit of wariness, "no I don't."

I looked at Mr. Brunner, he was lying, he knew what a half blood was. But what _was_ a half blood. For that I still have no idea.

"We should probably go, I bet you're hungry," he guided me, almost forcefully, out of the room and outside of the building where everyone was eating lunch. Percy and Grover were eating at the fountain, I headed towards them.

Overhead, a huge storm was brewing, with clouds blacker than I've ever seen anywhere, and I've been to quite a few places. I bet mom was convinced that the reason the weather was so whack was because of global warming. I was starting to agree with her, mostly because the weather all across New York state had been weird since Christmas. We'd had massive snowstorms, flooding, wildfires from lightning. I bet a hurricane was soon to blow in, or maybe a giant wave of killer shrimp. The weather's been so weird I wouldn't be surprised.

"Hey man where'd you go?" I looked at Percy who looking at me, I just shrugged, "I was in this room, it was about one of the Greek Gods, Pan." I noticed with interest how Grover chocked on his apple. Percy hit the guy on the back until he coughed it back up.

"Who's Pan?" Percy asked as I bit into my cheese sandwich, I was a vegetarian.

"He's the Lord of the Wild," Grover surprisingly spoke.

Before they could speak anymore, Nancy Bobofit came up to them and dropped her sandwich on Grover's lap. A nasty combination of peanut butter and ketchup went everywhere. "Oops," Nancy smirked.

I stood up as did Percy, but something else happened. I felt the power I felt when fighting Lamia come over me, the wind started to pick up and despite it being Fall everyone suddenly smelled flowers and spring, and the outside of the museum, despite it being in the middle of New York City, seriously smelled as though it was in the middle of a forest. Grover gasped as though he had been shocked. But that wasn't the surprising thing, the water in the fountain suddenly rose and grabbed Nancy and pulled her into the fountain. I was stunned, I was pretty sure I didn't do that, I glanced at Percy who looked as surprised as me, did Percy do that? I wondered confused.

I never got to finish my train of thought as suddenly the other teacher, Mrs. Dodds, stalked over to us with a triumphant smirk. She hated me and Percy and she terrified Grover. "Come with me!" we both groaned, there goes not getting into trouble...

"Wait, I did it! I pushed her in!" Grover exclaimed which surprised us since he was completely terrified of the teacher, when she looked at him he went as white as a ghost and trembled as though seeing a demon, I was beginning to suspect that opinion as well.

"I know what I saw Mr. Underwood. Jackson, Hunter... come with me," Grover looked desperately in Mr. Brunner's direction but he was absorbed into his book, the umbrella hooked onto his wheelchair and his coffee on his table made me think of a mobile coffee shop.

Percy and I followed Mrs. Dodds into the building; we both assumed we were going to have to buy Nancy some new clothes. I decided if that was the case than I'd buy a kiddie shirt like, _I Had An Educational Day!_ Written on it with big letters and Einstein with a pointer pointing at the Mona Lisa.

But Mrs. Dodds didn't take us to the gift shop, she took us back to the room we had been in before, besides us there was nobody else. I immediately started to feel uneasy, this felt familiar.

Mrs. Dodds stared at us with contempt, I backed away from the pure loathing she was sending to us.

"You've been giving us problems, honey," Mrs. Dodds said to Percy.

Percy tried the safe thing, "I'll try harder ma'am." He tried to be respectful but even he was getting creeped out.

Mrs. Dodds didn't seem to like his answer, thunder shook the building, the hairs on Jordan's neck rose as he suddenly had the impulse to bolt out of the room.

"We're not fools, Percy Jackson, it was only a matter if time before we found you out. Confess, and you will suffer less pain."

_Crap does she know about me and Percy's secret stash of candy?_ I wondered, or perhaps did they know that I did Percy's essay on _Tom Sawyer_ for him?

"Mrs. Dodds," I began.

"Your time is up," she hissed, I froze I suddenly remembered why this felt so familiar.

And just as I suspected Mrs. Dodds form changed. Her eyes glowed like barbecue coals. Her fingers stretched, turning into talons. Her jacket melted into large, leathery wings. She wasn't human. She was a shriveled hag with bat wings and claws.

Really what was up with all my teachers turning into monsters and trying to kill me!

"Percy run!" I yelled but he was frozen in fear and confusion. It was obvious he didn't expect his pre-algebra teacher to transform into something that looked like it came from the pits of hell.

And then if things weren't weird enough, Mr. Brunner suddenly wheeled into the room, "what ho, Percy!" and he tossed a pen towards Percy.

_Oh thanks Mr. B_, I thought sullenly, _thanks for not giving me anything and giving Percy a pen, reeaaall helpful._

But then once the pen landed in Percy's hand it suddenly turned into a sword. I instantly recognized it from tournament day. _Okay unexpected but why do I not get a weapon!?_

Percy was shaking, the tip of the sword trembled and lowered. Percy was beginning to lose his nerve, and he was confused and scared as hell.

"Die honey!" Mrs. Dodds screamed as she flew at the two of us, I stepped back seeing as I had nothing to fend her off.

Percy acted on instinct, he swung the sword. _Hisss!_

And then suddenly the demonic form of Mrs. Dodds was an innocent pile of sand. The room smelled of sulfur and a dying screech and a chill of evil hung in the air like a weight. I swore that two red eyes glared at us from the pile of powder.

Mr. Brunner was no longer in the room. Percy was trembling and so was I, but not as much as Percy.

"We should head back," I said as Percy jumped, he had forgotten I was there.

"Y-Yeah."

It was raining as we left the building, Grover was still at the fountain. Nancy was still soaked to the bone from her trip to the fountain but she strode towards us with a smirk. "I hope Mrs. Kerr whipped your butts!"

I looked at Percy confused, he was as confused as me. "Who are you talking about, Bobo?"

"Our _teacher._ Duh!"

Percy was as confused as I was, who was Mrs. Kerr? We went over to Grover and Percy asked where Mrs. Dodds was.

He said, "who?"

But I was good at reading emotions, and he was hiding something, he wouldn't even look at us in the face.

Thunder shook the ground.

Percy saw Mr. Brunner sitting under his red umbrella reading his book. As though he had not been in a museum giving a sword to a twelve-year-old boy to fight off a demon.

"Ah, that would be my pen. Please bring your own writing utensil in the future, Mr. Jackson."

Percy gave the innocent looking pen to the Latin teacher.

"Uhh Mr. B," I started as I glanced around the area, "where's Mrs. Dodds?"

Mr. Brunner stared at me blankly, "who?"

"The other chaperone." Percy added in looking annoyed by everyone's antics, "Mrs. Dodds. The pre-algebra teacher."

He frowned and sat forward, looking mildly concerned, "Jordan, Percy, there is no Mrs. Dodds on this trip. As far as I know, there has never been a Mrs. Dodds at Yancy Academy. Are you two feeling alright?"


	2. Talks in the Night

The bus ride back was awkward, me and Percy sat besides another while Grover sat behind us. None of us talked, Percy and I were too angry and Grover was too nervous.

We finally met Mrs. Kerr, a perky blonde woman I've never seen before, and none of the other students knew who Mrs. Dodds was, they looked at us as though we were crazy.

When we returned to Yancy a week had passed since the incident. Percy was sure that the whole school was playing a joke on them, but no matter how hard we tried they couldn't make anyone tell them that Mrs. Dodds was their math teacher, or that she even existed.

I knew the truth though and someone was trying to cover it up. I wouldn't be easily fooled, I survived against Lamia and I know for sure that little adventure wasn't a weird dream made up by a hyper ten-year-old.

Nothing else seemed to happen to us, well asides for more weird weather. Honestly it was as though the weather was competing to see which storm could destroy the most stuff.

One thing was certain, Grover was lying to us. He was an awful liar, whenever we mention Mrs. Dodds he'd jump and immediately try to change the subject, if we pestered him he'd stutter out that she didn't exist.

Yeah right.

But soon enough I stopped glancing behind my shoulder every second waiting for an attack, Percy was still confused but he started to calm down too. We were still trying to make a kid slip up and spill, but I was starting to think that they didn't even know about a Mrs. Dodds. If she could turn into a demon than maybe she could erase people's memory, I shuddered. It was too weird a thought.

Percy was confused too, but he was starting to slip up. I was pretty sure that if I didn't help him his D's would have gone into F's, but he kept getting into fights with Bobo and her gang, not that I could blame him.

With only half the school year gone I wondered how I was going to survive, granted I'm good with school but after having two of your teachers turn into monsters and try to kill you… well I was within my right to jump out of my chair when Mrs. Smith touched my arm to ask about something.

"I can't take this anymore," Percy whispered to me as we both stared at Grover. He was lying on his bed supposedly reading a book but we could see the book tremble slightly and the small bead of sweat on his forehead, he knew we were staring at him.

"He won't tell us," I whispered back.

Percy scowled at this, we saw Grover hiding his face behind his book. I sighed as I got on my bed and started to study for the big history test, I wasn't going to fail my classes, this was the one school I've managed to stay in, I didn't want to get kicked out.

Percy saw that both of us were studying, "hey Jordan can I borrow your mythology text book? I need to study for Mr. Brunners test, I haven't studied for it yet."

I flipped a page and looked at the preteen, "isn't the test tomorrow?" I asked him curiously.

Percy blushed, "I studied a little bit." He defended himself.

I chuckled, "yeah sure, it's in my dresser." I pointed to one of the standard dressers each student in Yancy got to put their clothes in.

"Thanks man," Percy went over to the dresser and went to the top drawer where I kept all my books or any items that weren't clothes.

I rubbed my eyes tiredly, the words were starting to do a little conga line across the page, I blinked several time and the words slowed down but they were still moving.

"Hey Jordan, what is this thing?" I looked up and fell off my bed, "don't touch that!" I yelled as I struggled to get out of the blankets. Percy jumped at the volume of my voice and dropped the object, which I quickly picked up.

Grover came over to see what was going on, both Percy and Grover saw what was in my hands, Grover seemed to be in shock, "are those Pan flutes?" he asked.

It was a Pan flute, a pretty big one too. There had to be around twenty different individual pieces. The shortest being around an inch while the longest around six inches, the entire piece was curved slightly. The most interesting thing about it was the age, the thing like it was a thousand years old, the wood had darken with age but there were no cracks or corroded wood. I blushed realizing how big of a deal I had made when Percy touched it, "sorry for freaking out, it's just," I fiddled with the flute, "it was my dad's."

Grover suddenly started trembling while Percy was looking at me with understanding, he knew that my dad was never there like his dad, the closest thing he had to a father was an asshole for a stepfather. I really didn't know that much about Grover's father since he never said anything about his family.

"Did your mother ever say anything about your dad?" Grover asked, which surprised me since Grover had never asked me or Percy that before.

"Not much," I mumbled, "all I know is that my mom him at some sort of protest rally."

"Isn't your mom really into nature or something?" Percy asked me, which I nodded with a chuckle.

"Yeah she's a big nature lover, it was at this protest rally cause some big wig politician was dumping a whole lot of garbage and old oil into a lake, and that's where she met my dad." I fiddled with the pipes as I recited what my mom had told me and I remembered every single word by heart, "when they meet it just clicked, they both fell for each other hard. But by the time I was born he had to leave, mom never told me the reason though I know she knows. Mom says I look just like him." I stopped talking when I realized my eyes were misty. I furiously rubbed my eyes to get rid of the unshed tears.

"My mom meet my dad in Montauk," Percy began while me and Grover listened, "it was only for a summer but they fell in love, but right after I was born he had to go on an important voyage and was lost at sea. He was some important and wealthy business man and he couldn't have refused the voyage, sometimes if I try hard enough I can remember a warm smile, but other than that I can't remember anything else." Percy was getting misty eyed as well.

"My dad left when I was young too," Grover said surprisingly, "a really important person disappeared and my dad went to go find him, never saw him again." he shrugged, "maybe he's still looking or he got lost, I really don't know."

"That sucks," I said as I looked at my closest friends before I smiled slightly, "three guys in a dorm room with daddy issues, make a good sitcom."

Percy's lips twitched in a smile before he laughed and fell to the ground, Grover was chuckling but when I turned around to put away my pipes I never saw that Grover was frowning slightly in my direction, his forehead scrunched upwards in thought, and a small spark of hope in his eyes.

The weeks turned into months and soon enough the weather got warmer even though the weather still got freakier. School got harder and I had trouble keeping up with it all.

Percy was doing worse than I was, he got into more fights with Nancy and her minions, he got sent out of every class besides Mr. Brunners, though a very memorable memory was when he called our English teacher; Mr. Nicoll an old sot because the guy kept asking why Percy was too lazy to study for any tests, Grover had told hold me back as I was about to snap at the man who was insulting Percy, it wasn't his fault he had Dyslexia and ADHD. We later found out that the headmaster had told Percy that he couldn't come back to Yancy next year. We were all pretty upset about it.

One Saturday I snuck out of the school and headed to one of my favorite places at this school, the woods. I instantly relaxed as all my problems left as I inhaled the smell of pine trees. I felt something uncomfortable press against my gut, it was the flute my dad had left me.

Since it was the one thing I had of him I always made sure it was safe, and I wanted to learn how to play it. Maybe it'd bring me some type of connection with the man.

Dear God I sound like a teenage girl with a creepy shrine to some famous guy, who would just stare at it and think that they had some sort of bond even though the guy didn't even know she existed.

I sat down cross-legged and leaned against a pine tree, I took out my flute and tenderly blew on it. The single note seemed to echo through the entire woods. I took a deep breath before playing a song I knew.

For the next couple minutes I zoned out, I was only aware of the flute and the sound I was making. I had to admit I was pretty good at it, even though I was self-taught. It was only when I had finished the calming song I realized that the entire forest was silent. Not even the clichéd cricket was chirping, it was pure silence.

Then I saw movement, I tensed up, but then out of the bushes a rabbit appeared. With no sense of fear or alarm it gave a few small hops towards me, before sniffing the air with its little nose as one of its ear twitched slightly, the rabbit then proceeded to jump to me until he was nestled in my lap.

Now that the rabbit was literally in my lap I realized that it was an Eastern Cottontail, I gently petted the rabbit, I forgot how soft rabbits were, that along with the fact that rabbits were skittish animals and wouldn't have a human get near them by five meters, but I guess I was the exception.

The sun began to set and after I bid the rabbit a goodbye I headed back to school so no one would think I got kidnapped or something. I managed to get through the side doors that led into the cafeteria, where I quickly grabbed a apple to munch on as I roamed the halls until I got back, I managed to avoid any teachers that were lurking about for any students to punish for being out of bed. I soon arrived at my dorm, when I opened it I saw something that made me drop my apple.

There was Percy chilling on the bottom of the bunk bed we shared, _studying_.

Has the world ended? Or had I somehow stumbled into a parallel dimension? Never in a million years would I have thought Percy would study without me and Grover telling him to do it.

Percy looked up when he heard me drop the apple, I noticed the bags under his eyes, "sorry," I apologized as I picked up the apple and tossed it into the trash can across the room and it landed in the small basket, I grinned, "it's just surprising to see you studying, without me or Grover telling you that you had to do it. Are you Percy's evil twin that kidnapped him and is impersonating him? 'Cause you aren't doing a very good job my friend."

Percy rolled his eyes at my words, "I've studied on my own before." He defended himself though he fidgeted slightly when he saw the blank look I was giving him, "okay maybe you rubbed off on me," he added in.

"Even if we lived for a million years I doubt that would be enough time for you to want to study." I said dryly as I put away my flute, making sure Percy didn't see it and then began to ruffle through my clothes looking for the stash of candy me and Percy had. I found a couple of Tootsie rolls and popped on in my mouth and I tossed one to Percy who caught it with one hand.

Percy glared at me but he was smiling at me, "I just want to pass Mr. Brunner's exam, it's tomorrow along with the others, I don't want to fail him." He said the last part as a mumble.

"Do you need any help?" I asked in case he needed someone to help quiz him, I wouldn't mind it, he was my closest friend after all. "I think I got some old note cards stashed away somewhere, they may be at the bottom of my drawer, I can look if you want." I offered to the dark-haired boy who was obviously having trouble reading the small words in the textbook.

Percy sighed as he tossed away his Greek Mythology textbook onto the floor, he buried his head in his pillow, "I just can't remember it Jordan!" Percy said with a defeated tone. "How am I supposed to tell the difference between Chiron and Charon, or Erebus and Eros, or if Hypnos is the god of sleep…. Or is that Morpheus? or the difference between Cronos and Chronos. I just can't remember it, whenever I try it just fades and leaves my mind blank."

"Well Chiron is a centaur that trained a whole bunch of heroes, while Charon lives in the underworld and is the ferryman that ferries the dead to the land of the dead to be judged, but he's like really greedy and won't take you unless you have a gold coin," I offered hoping he'd remember, even if it was a small bit it was better than not knowing at all. "And Erebus is the god of darkness and shadow while I think Eros is like the god of love or something like that. Morpheus is the god of sleep while Hypnos is the god of dreams."

"That's the same thing!" Percy said while I shrugged.

"I don't think the ancient Greeks would agree with you but yeah it's similar to that."

"How do you remember all this stuff?" Percy asked the brown-haired boy, "even before the year started you knew this stuff."

"My mom taught me, guess she knew I'd need it for this year. I had a lot of trouble learning and memorizing all the names and monsters but my mom wouldn't stop giving me information until I remembered it all." I said, "maybe she thinks I'll need it for something in real life."

As soon as I said that I remembered what Mr. Brunner said at the museum, and judging by the looks of Percy he was remembering it too.

Mr. Brunner's gaze was burning through the memory, his eyes looked like they were a thousand years old, that they had seen hardships and luxury, pain and joy, gain and loss, and so many other experiences that I couldn't name. _I only expect the best out of you two._

Why did I feel like there was more to that statement? It didn't seem like a normal teacher would ask with those eyes, he wanted us to prove ourselves, but why? What was so great about us? Percy was a supposedly a juvenile delinquent (which was completely not true, the guy just had awful luck with being at the wrong place at the wrong time) and had bounced though school so much he never stayed for more than a single year.

And then there was me, sure I was better at school than Percy but I wasn't the top student in every class, my ADHD and Dyslexia still got the best of me at times and would affect my grades. I was just a normal kid from a single mother with a heart of gold and a great love for nature, which I shared as well. I was just some kid that was always moving, never having an actual place I could call home besides the woods, the only interesting thing about me besides my changing eyes was the fact that animals seemed to love me. And I guess the fact that some crazy snake lady tried to kill me in the woods when I was five, but I still had no idea what that was.

Percy rubbed his eyes tiredly, "I'm going to go see Mr. Brunner for help, or to just apologize for the F I'll get on his exam."

"Do you want me to come?" I asked as he got up, Percy stopped before nodding, I got up from the armchair I had been sitting in and followed the tired boy down the hallway and in the direction we knew where Mr. Brunner's office was.

The two of us were going down the hallway that had all the teacher's offices, all of them were dark and empty, no doubt their occupant were upstairs asleep. The only office that had light was Mr. Brunner's at the very end of the hall. Mr. Brunner's door was opened slightly, spreading enough light to light the floor so none of us would trip.

Percy and I were about three or four steps away from opening the door when we heard a voice that was defiantly not Mr. Brunner's. It was Grover's.

"…. worried about Percy and Jordan, sir."

Me and Percy froze, we shared a look between one another.

Now me and Percy aren't eavesdroppers, but I dare you to try to not listen to a conversation between one of your best friends talking about you and your other best friend to an adult, a _teacher_ no less. Even if that teacher was Mr. Brunner.

Me and Percy silently stepped closer, the voices got slightly louder but it was still hard to hear everything.

"…. they'll be alone all summer," Grover said to Mr. Brunner, "I mean, a Kindly One in the _school_. Of all things that would appear, it had to be _her._ This proves everything, we know now, and if we know _they_ know."

The way Grover said 'they', whoever 'they' were didn't seem to be the friendly type. But why was he taking this to Mr. Brunner, from the trembling in his voice you'd think he was talking about a crazy psychopathic murderer.

"We would only make matters worse by rushing the two," Mr. Brunner said to Grover, "we need the two to mature more, well at least Percy to. Jordan is more level-headed but he isn't ready."

Grover's voice was trembling again, "you told me that Jordan knows," at this Percy shot me a confused look, I was just as confused as him. "How could he have found out, this was before the attack. How could he know the word?"

What word? I wondered before the answer came to me and I felt like a concrete block had been dropped in my stomach. I suddenly felt very cold and faint, as though I had been dumped into a freezing lake.

"For all we know he may have just heard the word somewhere," Mr. Brunner said, "perhaps I should contact his mother, perhaps she could shed some light on her son."

What the hell was going on, first my best friend and teacher are talking about me and Percy, and then the fact they know the term Lamia called me, and now they want to talk to my _mother_.

"Are you sure about that, sir?" Grover asked, "she doesn't really trust you, especially when you went to talk to her a couple months ago when the attack happened."

My heart was beating in my chest, why were they trying to talk to my mom? She didn't know about anything, then again neither did I besides the fact stuff wants to kill me.

Mr. Brunner sighed, "I know, she is very stubborn. She forbade me from telling Jordan anything, she's hoping that if he never knows than he'll be safe. I will give her credit, she just wants to protect her son, though she really didn't need to chase me out of her house with a baseball bat when I told her I would tell the boy."

Now that surprised me, my mom was the nicest lady in the world, she wouldn't harm a fly but what secret was so important that mom didn't want me to know about, that she'd actually try and hit my Latin teacher with a baseball bat when he told her he would tell me…. Whatever it was.

I was also worried, my mom was a lot of things but she wasn't a fighter. She had never raised her voice at me, but I was worried that she may have gotten hurt. Mr. Brunner didn't seem the type of guy to hurt an innocent lady, but then again I was learning more things about my Latin teacher than I would have ever thought or believed.

"Sir, do you think Jordan is…. You know?" Grover sounded like he was trying not to faint, we knew that tone very well when a bully was being mean to him, "it has to be, it all adds up. When we were at the museum and Nancy went into the fountain I saw Jordan get angry and then…. I felt true nature." His voice was trembling again, "it has to be, the scent, the looks, the _flute_. Mr. Brunner he has the _flute!_ It's _his_ symbol. Do you really think that Jordan's father may be-"

The wind was knocked out of me, for the millionth time today I was in complete shock, did _Grover_ of all people know who my dad was, I leaned closer and slightly shoved Percy away, which he kindly let me do since he heard it as well.

But of course Mr. Brunner had to interrupt him, "enough Grover! There is not enough proof, I know you wish with all your heart and soul that Jordan may be _his_ son, but there isn't enough to prove it." His tone turned kinder, "Grover I know that you wish to find him, but I don't want you to get your hopes up, for all we know he could be Mr. D's son."

"I would know if he was Mr. D's son, and I know he isn't, he doesn't look anything like him. He isn't like Pollux and Castor." Grover's voice was growing desperate. "I know you have your doubts but I do know you have thought it as well, and Jordan told me the only thing he knew about his father. His dad met his mom at a protest rally to save a lake from pollution, how his dad loved nature so much, and the fact that he left a flute to his son, not just any type of flute but _that_ type of flute."

"A coincidence perhaps," Mr. Brunner said, "Grover I know it is your dream and goal in life to find him, as your family and countless others have, but I don't want you to get your hopes up and realize you were wrong, I think it'd crush you, and if Jordan's father is indeed him.." Mr. Brunner trailed off, "than I think interesting things will soon happen, even with everything that is going on."

Grover didn't say anything and Mr. Brunner continued, "we must be careful, with the summer solstice deadline approaching we mustn't make any mistakes, let the two enjoy their ignorance just a little longer."

"They aren't ignorant though, they s_aw_ her, they've been asking me questions I can't answer. They don't believe me when I say she never existed."

"Let the Mist do its work, perhaps they will believe that they had some sort of hallucination, the fact that the students and teachers should convince them," Mr. Brunner spoke.

"Sir, I… I can't fail my duties again." Grover's voice chocked with emotion. "You know what that would mean, this is my last chance, my final chance."

"You have not failed your duties Grover," Mr. Brunner spoke kindly. "I should have realized what she was when she first entered this school. Now let's just worry about keeping Percy and Jordan alive until next fall-"

Percy's Greek Mythology textbook slipped out of the boy's hand and hit the ground with a loud thump. I looked at him with a look that pretty much said _I can't believe you just did that._

Mr. Brunner had fallen silent.

A shadow slid across the lighted glass of Mr. Brunner's office door, the shadow of something much taller than my wheelchair-bound Latin teacher, holding something that looked like an archer's bow.

Percy picked up the book, I knew we only had a couple of seconds until we were discovered and quickly followed Percy into an empty office. We didn't breath as we heard the door open, we both heard a soft and slow _clop-clop-clop_, like someone was walking with wooden blocks on their feet.

Then we heard the sound of an animal snuffling right outside the door of the office we were hidden in, a large dark shape paused in front of the glass before moving on. I struggled to keep calm, almost certain that they could hear my hammering heartbeat.

Then somewhere down the hallway me and Percy heard Mr. Brunner speak. "Nothing," he muttered quietly, "my nerves haven't been right since the winter solstice."

"Mine neither," Grover spoke softly, "but I swear…."

"Go back to your dorm," Mr. Brunner said to the sixth grader, "you have a long day of exams tomorrow, you should rest."

Grover sighed. "Don't remind me."

The entire hallway went dark as Mr. Brunner turned off the lights in his office, the two hidden boys waited with held breaths as Grover and Mr. Brunner left the hallway to their dorms.

We stayed in that room for what seemed like decades, "we should go," I whispered to Percy who nodded tensely. We then snuck out of the office and quickly but silently headed back to our dorm.

None of us said anything, we didn't want too, my head was buzzing with questions. Did Grover and Mr. Brunner know my dad? From the way Grover talked about him he seemed like a big deal. Who was Mr. D? A colleague of Brunners? What was my mom hiding from me? Why did she feel like she needed to protect me, and from what?

We reached our dorm, Percy opened the door. Grover was lying on his bed, reading his Latin exam notes and glancing at the text book to make sure it was right, he looked like he had been there the entire night, like he hadn't moved an inch for over six hours.

"Hey," he greeted us, he was bleary-eyed, I had no idea if he was actually tired or just playing a part. "You guys ready for the exams?'

Me and Percy didn't answer.

"You two look awful," he looked at them with concern, "are you guys okay?"

I glanced at Percy, who then said, "just… tired."

I nodded, "yeah. We're tired."

Me and Percy headed to the single bunk bed, Percy got on the bottom and I got on the top. We both laid there, staring blankly at the wall. As we tried to understand what was going on.

I heard Grover put away his textbook and notes, the lights went out leaving the entire room in the dark.

I was beginning to regret wanting to go with Percy to help ask Brunner for help, no matter how much I tried to figure out what was going on I just ended up with more questions and no answers.

It was times like this he really missed his mom, she'd know what to do. She always helped me when I was in trouble or needed help, but I had a sinking feeling that she couldn't help me with this. Either because she can't or won't.

My head was hurting, I had no idea what was going on. All I know was that Grover and Brunner were talking about me and Percy behind our backs, they thought they were in danger, but from _who?_

**Hey guys, sorry I haven't updated I have other stories I wanted to update and then my computer broke, so sorry about that. And also just so you know, Jordan is an OC, he isn't me or someone I know. Just something from my imagination. Things will get more interesting and the chapters will get longer as the two will finally get to know what a half-blood is. And if anyone doesn't know who Jordan's dad is…. I'm being very obvious especially since I put in those flutes since those will be one of Jordan's weapons, granted not his main weapon.**


	3. The Socks of Death

The day after Percy and I had overheard Grover's and Mr. Brunner's talk it was exam week so we never had any time to actually discuss it before we had to study for the exam tomorrow. We never had a chance to confront Grover about it either, I was dead set on cornering the boy and demanding on who he thought my father was, fortunately Percy talked me out of it before I could get into trouble.

The day of our Latin exam I was just finishing up the final piece of the three hour exam, I was rereading my essay where we had to write down a known Greek or Roman myth, if it was accurate you passed. I noticed Percy handing in his paper with a look that said he didn't think he did good in it. But as soon as Percy tried to leave the classroom Mr. Brunner called him back in, making me wonder with worry if he knew that we had been eavesdropping.

Turns out it was something completely different, I wished he knew we had been eavesdropping.

"Percy, don't be discouraged about leaving Yancy. It's…. for the best." Mr. Brunners tone was kind but the words the words carried through the class where even I could hear him even though I was near the back of the room.

I could hear Nancy Bobofit, who was sitting on my right, making sarcastic kissing motions and I knew she was smirking at the scene. I quickly gave her chair a quick kick and she nearly fell out of the chair, I turned back to my paper innocently but I paid attention to the conversation. Percy was mumbling something but I couldn't hear.

"I mean," Mr. Brunner wheeled his wheelchair closer to the dark-haired boy, he looked like he didn't know what to say but he still talked. "This isn't the right place for you. It was only a matter of time."

I did not like where this conversation was going, I could easily tell that Percy was trying hard to not cry, it probably hurt knowing that the one teacher in this school, the one who had always told Percy that despite him having bad grades he was his star pupil, was telling Percy that he was destined to get kicked out of Yancy.

Percy was trembling slightly, "right." He said bluntly as he looked like he was ready to bolt out of the room.

"No, no," Mr. B was shaking his head as though he was trying to figure out how to say the next thing without insulting the boy or making the situation worse. "What I'm trying to say… you're not normal, Percy. That's nothing to be-"

"Thanks," Percy blurted out still trembling. "Thanks a lot, sir, for reminding me."

"Percy-"

Percy bolted out of the room, I head snickers from the rest of the remaining students but they stopped when I glared at them. I immediately stopped looking over my exam and quickly walked up to the desk and slammed it on the wood, I then left ignoring Mr. Brunner's call to come back.

I found Percy back in the dorm room trying to not cry. I told him that none of that was true, that Mr. Brunner was just an ass. It didn't work as well as I hoped but he did feel a little better as we continued to insult the man, though when Grover heard us saying it he paled slightly, I guess he didn't like my idea of Mr. Brunner's supposed parentage was between an old and ignorant mule and a human.

On the last day of school I was packing everything into my suitcase, I had wrapped the flutes with one of my old shirts so it didn't get any damage. Percy was quickly shoving things into his suitcase as well while Grover waited for us to finish packing, his packed suitcase right next to him.

We walked down the halls and talked with some of the other guys that went to Yancy. They were joking around and saying what they were going to do for the summer, one was going to Switzerland on a hiking trip. Another was cruising the Caribbean. I didn't really like them, they were the rich guys, the snobby ones who judged the ones who were more poorer, aka me and Percy.

When they asked us what we were doing for the break Percy just said that he was going back to New York City, I was going to spend a month of summer with Percy before going to California to see the Redwoods with my mom.

"Oh," one of the rich guys said, "that's cool." They went back to their conversation as though we never existed.

Percy and I dreaded saying goodbye to Grover, sure he was hiding something from us but he was still our best friend. Though ironically it turns out that Grover had bought a ticket on the same Greyhound bus as ours, so the goodbye would have to wait until we got to the station.

On the bus I sat behind Percy and Grover, no one was using the seat next to me so I could use both of them as my seat as I leaned against the glass, occasionally looking out the window while my feet were propped up on the arm rest near the aisle. I fiddled with my Ipod and listened to some songs. Mom never let me had a cellphone, but she let me get an Ipod for music.

We could easily tell that Grover was more nervous than ever, and that was saying something. He kept looking down the aisle and inspecting the other passengers, as though trying to find one out from the bus crowd. I remembered idly that he always seemed to do this whenever we left Yancy for field trips, Percy and I had always assumed it was because he was afraid of bullies and was on the watch for any low life that would pick on a sixth grader, he was obviously on the look out for something else.

"Looking for Kindly Ones?" Percy said suddenly.

Grover nearly jumped out of his seat, I stopped leaning against the window and took out my head phones. "Wh-What do you mean?" Grover asked with a stutter, his eyes panicky.

"So we're talking about this?" I asked the two where Percy nodded his head while Grover looked at me with confusion and fear. "Finally I was about to ask." I said as I leaned closer to their seats. "Ya see Grover, we may have…. eavesdropped on you and Mr. Brunner."

Grover's eye twitched. "How much did you hear?"

"Oh not much…. What's the summer solstice deadline?" Percy asked the tall kid.

Grover winced and looked away from us, obviously trying to figure out how to get out of this, "Look, Jordan, Percy… I was just worried about you guys. I mean, you guys were scaring me and the whole school with your story of a math teacher that doesn't exist turning into a demon and trying to kill you…" he said quickly.

"Grover…" Percy said with exasperation, not buying the story at all.

"And I was telling Mr. Brunner that maybe you guys were overstressed or anxious about something, because there is no person named Mrs. Dodds, she doesn't exist, and..." Grover continued on until he felt my hand on his shoulder, I looked at him from behind with a look of annoyance, "Grover, you are a very, very, _very_ bad liar."

Grover's ear turned bright pink, he nervously tapped his armrest with his finger tips, he then went for something in his coat and handed it to Percy, I stood up and looked over the seats to see the card. It was in fancy cursive, which was awful with my Dyslexia, I could tell Percy was having trouble reading it as well. I could finally make it out.

**Grover Underwood.**

**Keeper.**

**Half-blood Hill. Long Island, New York.**

**(800) 009-0009.**

My eyes widened when I saw the word half-blood, "what's Half-" Percy started before Grover jumped again.

"Don't say it aloud!" he yelped. "That's my, uh…. summer address!" he said quickly.

I saw that Percy looked sad at that, I guess he never thought that Grover's family was rich as the other rich guys at Yancy, I didn't think it either but still.

"Okay," Percy said glumly, "so, like, if I want to come visit your mansion."

He nodded, "Or… or if you need me." Grover said.

"Why would I need you?" Percy said harshly while Grover blushed bright red.

"Look Percy, Jordan, I-I have to protect you," Grover said.

Percy and I stared at him. The two of us have been protecting the boy from bullies, even fighting them, to help him. Percy was afraid on how Grover would get on without us next year, with Percy having been kicked out and me possibly moving again. The kid didn't look like a fighter, he'd get beaten up next year, and he was the one acting as though he was the one who had defended us.

"Grover, what exactly are you protecting us from?" Percy asked the trembling boy, Percy was starting to look a little afraid, even I had a bad feeling in my gut.

Then all of a sudden the bus started to lose speed, the grinding sound of the large tire wheels sounded from underneath us, black smoke rose from the dashboard and suddenly the whole bus smelled like rotten eggs. I wrinkled my nose in distaste, I noticed Grover doing the same thing. The three of us could hear the bus driver swearing loudly as he quickly swerved to the side of the road.

The driver then got out when the bus finally wheezed its last breath and started to fiddle with the engine compartment for a couple of minutes, judging by the thick and potent black smoke that was still coming from the parts I could tell it wasn't that good. The driver then told everyone to get off the bus, we grabbed our backpacks and filed out with the others.

"We're not done with the conversation," I was telling Grover as we neared the front of the bus, "how do you know my dad?" Grover pretended to ignore me though he could tell that I was scowling at the brown-haired boy.

As we stepped out I noticed that we were on the far end of some dusty old road near a small forest. A place no one would notice if your car didn't break down, though I did notice a lot of old cans and litter scattered around something that annoyed me to the extreme, to my surprise I saw that Grover looked annoyed by it too, until he looked across the road and turned as pale as a ghost.

I followed his gaze and saw something I would not expect to see on a small dusty road in the middle of nowhere, there sitting on rocking chairs were three of the weirdest and oldest old ladies I had ever seen in my life. I'm used to the weird, with two of my teachers trying to kill me along with all of the eccentric people my mom seem to know, but even I had to admit it was weird.

The reason for this was because the old ladies, who looked like they were around a million years old, with pure white hair that moved softly in the breeze and the hundreds of wrinkles adorning them, they looked _ancient_. The weird part of them was that all three of them were knitting what appeared to be the largest pair of socks I had ever seen in my life. They were literally the size of a large sweater, the only way I knew the were socks was because of the distinctive shape, but why were these old ladies knitting neon blue socks that would fit King Kong on a dust country road in the middle of nowhere?

The three were sitting in a small little shack that looked as old as them, but their stuff looked amazing. It was a fruit stand, that part was obvious, large boxes of blood red cherries and apples, peaches that looked ready to burst with their sweet juices and dried apricots, jugs of cider were placed in an old tub filled with ice.

Grover still looked like he was a ghost, Percy was looking at them too, and the weird thing was that the three old ladies were staring right at us. Even though we were across a wide road I could see their eyes, a bright electric blue that made me want to curl up into a ball and hide away from their piercing gaze. The soul gazes I had felt from Lamia and Mr. Brunner felt like nothing compared to these old ladies, I actually felt afraid of them.

Percy didn't seem to notice, he could tell that they were staring at the three of us but he didn't seem to think the old ladies were dangerous. Grover was still trembling like a leaf, "Grover you okay?" I asked with concern since the poor guy looked ready to have a nervous breakdown.

"Please tell me they aren't looking at you two," he said, I looked back at the ladies and all three of them were looking right at me and Percy.

Percy, being the most crass of us, spoke before me, "Yeah, weird huh? You think those socks would fit me?" he asked us.

Even I felt like the joke was in poor taste, Grover seemed to agree with me, "not funny, Percy. Not funny at all."

The three of us then saw the middle old lady pull out a huge pair of gold and silver scissors, I thought for a wild second that they looked like shears, they looked as ancient as the old ladies, and as dangerous. I heard Grover's breath hitch but I couldn't tear my eyes off of the ladies.

"Get on the bus," Grover breathed out, his wide eyes still looking at the scissors, Percy and I looked at him in disbelief. "Are you crazy, Grover?" Percy asked, "its like a thousand degrees in there!"

"Come on!" He somehow managed to pry open the bus door, which was surprising since the guy didn't really have that much muscle, Grover then quickly climbed inside the bus and motioned for us to follow him.

Obviously we didn't. I then noticed along with Grover and Percy that were still looking at Percy and I, then the middle old lady cut the yarn, and I could hear the _snip_ across four lanes of heavy traffic, then the other two ladies flanking her wrapped up the electric-blue socks.

We were brought out of the trance when the bus driver pulled out a hunk of charred metal from the engine, the bus shuddered before wheezing back to life. The passengers cheered while the bus driver slapped the bus with his hat and told everyone to get back on the bus.

Everybody shuffled back on board. As we sat down I suddenly felt sick, I saw that Percy looked feverish too, Grover was shivering and I could hear his teeth chattering. "Grover, what are you not telling us?" I asked, I could interrogate the boy about the identify of my father later, I just wanted some answers for a change, not more questions.

"What did you guys see at the fruit stand?" Grover asked.

"You were there with us Grover," I said looking at him as though he had gone mental.

"…. Those ladies aren't like Mrs. Dodds, are they?" Percy asked the boy.

"Just tell me what you saw."

"There were three old ladies knitting at a fruit stand," I said impatiently, I wanted some answers and Grover knew them. But I was on edge, those ladies scared me, more than Lamia or even Mrs. Dodds had.

Percy spoke next while I pondered my thoughts, "then the middle lady cut the yarn with those weird scissors."

Grover closed his eyes and made a gesture with his fingers that might've been crossing himself, but it wasn't, it seemed more older, more _ancient_. Like those three little old ladies knitting overly large undergarments on a small little road.

"She cut the cord?" Grover's tone was tense.

"Yeah, so?" Percy asked though even he seemed to get that it was a very big deal, I sighed, why did all the weird things happen to me?

Grover was mumbling under his breath, "this isn't happening. This shouldn't be happening, not like last time."

"Last time?" I asked the boy warily.

"Always the sixth grade. They never get past the sixth grade."

I was starting to freak out, I saw Percy was looking scared as well, "Grover, what are you talking about?" Percy asked.

"Just let me walk you two to Percy's house," Grover said flatly, "promise me that."

"Grover, those old ladies, the socks, the yarn, the cutting… is it bad?" I asked him.

Grover just looked at us with mourning, as though we were already dead and he was thinking on what flowers to line our caskets with.

Percy and I ditched Grover at the bus station when he went to the bathroom. Yeah, yeah I know it wasn't the most honorable thing to do, ditching a guy when he went to go take a piss, but he was seriously freaking us out with his constant muttering.

He was acting like we were marked men, someone with a hit on them, and that there was no way to survive, like we were already dead and buried six feet under. So yeah there were no arguments on ditching Grover while he hurried to the little boys room, at least there weren't any uncomfortable or sad goodbyes.

Percy and I had quickly grabbed our suitcase, shouldered our backpacks, and hailed for the nearest taxi and gave him the directions to Percy's apartment. During the entire drive Percy was telling me about his mom, how nice she was, how much I would love her, and of course how great her cooking was. Having spent a whole school year eating cafeteria food I was ready for a home cooked meal, Percy assured me that he told his mom that I was a vegetarian so I would have something to eat besides salad, something that made me feel better.

He also warned me about his asshole of a stepfather, Gabe Ugliano, whom he dubbed Smelly Gabe.

The taxi pulled to a stop once we arrived at the apartment building, we headed up to the place and Percy opened the door.

Immediately I could hear the sounds of ESPN, food being eaten sloppily, and the curses of grown men. My nose curled up when I smelled cheap beer, old food that stained the carpet, and the smell of several fat guys who really needed a shower. I then saw for the first time Percy's stepfather.

Gabe Ugliano, true to his last name, wasn't a handsome man. He looked like a mix between a beached whale and a walrus, he was completely bald except for a few stray hairs, and was wearing a white t-shirt that showed off his flabby arms and I could see the mustard yellow pit stains. He was smoking a cheap cigar, the acrid smell lingering the room.

"So, you're back, brat." Gabe didn't even look up from his poker game, three other rather large and ugly dudes were surrounding him holding cards, beers, greasy food, or poker chips. I was standing behind Percy, so none of the guys could see me.

"Where's my mom?" Percy asked.

"Working," he said as he continued to look at his cards and smoke his cigar, "you got any cash?"

"I don't have any cash," Percy said sounding tired, as though this happened all the time, I stood near the door, nobody noticed me yet.

"You took a taxi from the bus station," Gabe said matter of factly as he dealt the cards, "probably paid the cabbie with a twenty, got six, maybe seven dollars in your pocket. You want to live under my roof you need to carry your own weight. Am I right Eddie?" he asked Eddie.

Eddie was a rather large man wearing a baseball cap, hiding his dusty blonde hair, he looked at Percy with a hint of sympathy, "come on, Gabe," he said to the humanoid walrus playing poker, "the kid just got here, give him some slack."

"Am I _right?_" Gabe repeated his words with a deadly glint in his small beady eyes.

Eddie scowled into his bowl of pretzels, the other guys passed gas in harmony, making the two idiots chuckle. I finally got fed up of being ignored and for Percy being picked on, I stepped right next to him and the men finally saw me.

Gabe took out his cigar from his mouth and jabbed it in my direction, "who the hell is this brat?" he asked Percy, who looked ready to get angry again before I tapped him on the shoulder and he saw me wink, Gabe and the others didn't see it.

I looked at Gabe who was taking a large gulp from his cheap beer, I then put on my best innocent face and said very slowly yet loudly, "Daddy?" I said in a hopeful and overjoyed tone, like a little kid meeting Santa, or his long lost father.

Immediately Gabe chocked on his beer, he doubled over and started hacking as he tried to breath, one of the guys who had passed gas slapped the large man on the back several times before he stopped chocking, he looked at me with a pale face, making his normally red face look like small dots of red appeared on his now pale features, his entire nose was red making me think of Rudolph. His beady little eyes were going over my body, trying to see any familiar features.

Before Gabe had any time to retort about me, Percy started to chuckle, which then quickly turned into full blown laughter. I immediately joined him since the look on Gabe's face was priceless; his churned and mixed colors on his face making it even more hilarious.

Gabe, realizing what I did, turned red with anger, "real funny brat," he snarled at me while Eddie and the others chortled as they had thought it had been funny too.

"And you," he rounded to Percy who stopped laughing and glared at the man, "give me your change or I'm kicking you out of this house. I saw your report card, and take your smart ass friend with you!"

"Fine," Percy said with a scowl as he slammed the seven dollars on the table, making the Cheetos and drinks rattle, "I hope you lose," with that said and done Percy picked up his bags and headed towards his room me following him, "bye daddy!" I yelled over my shoulder in a cheerful tone, grinning when I heard Eddie and the other two howling in laughter while I could hear Gabe snarling at them to shut up.

"Wow your stepfather is mobile," I said with disbelief as we entered Percy's room. It appeared that while Percy was still in Yancy, Gabe had decided to try to completely erase any evidence that Percy even existed. Anything that Percy owned but didn't bring to school was roughly shoved into the small closet in the back corner of the small room. Gabe had left his muddy and disgusting boots on the window still, "can he even walk on his own?" I asked Percy.

"Probably not." Came his short but true answer, "maybe he uses one of those carts." Percy and I snickered thinking of Gabe moving round the house on a scooter, it was a funny image.

I sniffed the air, "ugh man why does your room smell so rank?" I asked as I could smell some sort of nasty cologne, cheap beer, and anything else disgusting that Gabe could bring into the room.

"Gabe's just an asshole, I don't get why my mom is even still with him, he makes jerks and bullies look like outstanding pedestrians who go to community service everyday," Percy said as he collapsed on his bed.

"Yeah I agree he isn't exactly Mr. Happy," I said as I leaned against the wall and looked down at all the moving civilians out of the window, "you know I've never really been to New York, mom doesn't like going to big major cities, pollution or something like that, we always stay in small towns… it's different." I said as I continued to look out the window.

"You'll get used to it soon enough," Percy said as he started to unpack, "we'll get out the old air mattress, mom has it stored away somewhere," he grimaced, "unless you want to sleep on the couch."

I shuddered thinking of the couch that Gabe and his buddies always sat on when watching sports or playing poker, "I think I'll pass, I'd rather not get a deadly disease by sleeping where Gabe's butt has been."

Percy shuddered as well, that train of thought definitely deserved to crash and burn.

Percy and I talked for a bit, mostly about Grover and the little old ladies but we soon decided to change the subject, I'd rather not feel like a trapped and hunted animal, I still felt as though something was watching my every move, just waiting to strike…

"Percy?" an unknown woman's voice rang through the small New York apartment, Percy immediately shot off of his bed and quickly opened the door to reveal a tired but happy woman.

I immediately knew that this was Percy's mom, who else could make the upset boy so happy in the matter of a second? I noticed that shared some features with Percy, but they weren't that dominant. Her brown eyes were twinkling in the light, she looked overjoyed to hug her son, she had dark brown hair with a few grey hairs but she didn't look old at all, she was wearing a red, white, and blue Sweet on America apron, she definitely smelled better than Gabe. I could smell all type of candies and sweets, the rich scents wafting the stinky room, leaving behind a pleasant aroma.

"Oh Percy I missed you so much!" Mrs. Jackson said as she held her son closer to him before pulling away and inspecting every inch of her baby. "Oh you've grown so much since I saw you last Christmas!"

I snickered slightly as Percy blushed as his mom continued to fuss over him right in front of Jordan, "mom!" he complained but he didn't really seem that upset, he was obviously very happy to see his mother.

Sally Jackson then seemed to remember that there was another person in the room, she quickly saw Jordan and smiled warmly, I couldn't help but smile in greeting, her happy attitude was infectious.

"So you must be Jordan," Sally said as she came over to me and gave me a big hug, "Percy has told me so much about you! You're the one who helped him with all of his studies and homework, I presume?" she asked while I laughed and nodded while Percy looked at the ground in embarrassment.

"Yep, though Percy did study on his own," I defended Percy who gave me a gratified look, trying to not appear sheepish in front of his mother.

"Oh I bet you two are so hungry, trust me I know how much growing boys eat, and Jordan don't worry I made something that doesn't have meat, seeing as you're a vegetarian." Sally told me which I nodded in appreciation.

"Now, why don't you guys tell me about the school year?"

I shared a look with Percy, he nodded quickly, _don't say anything about our math teacher trying to kill us._

So Percy gave his mom a long and heavily edited edition of our time at Yancy, I would occasionally add things in but I let Percy tell his mom about his time at the boarding school.

But then Percy started to talk about the museum and he hesitated, which his mom instantly noticed and grew worried, "what?" she asked looking at her son with big brown eyes full of worry, making Percy feel awful about lying to her, "did something scare you?"

"No, mom, nothing scared me." Percy assured the worried woman, feeling awful lying to his mom.

I knew instantly that Mrs. Jackson didn't believe the boy for one second, but thankfully she let the issue drop, she then smiled softly as she looked at me and Percy, "I have a surprise for you two," she announced, " we're going to the beach."

Percy's eyes widened while I had no idea what to say since I had no idea what beach she was talking about, "Montauk?" Percy asked.

"Yes, same cabin for three nights."

"When?"

Sally smiled, "after I change and eat dinner of course."

Percy grinned, three nights in Montauk, it was the best vacation the two ever had, and with Jordan coming it would be more fun, maybe they could play football or something, seeing as his mom wasn't very good at it while Jordan was very athletic and would provide a challenge.

I smiled as well, seeing how much fun it would be to go to the beach, seeing as Jordan had never been to Long Island it should prove interesting.

Oh was he right, but not in the way he expected.

But of course the good mood had to be ruined by the resident buzz kill and asshole, Gabe appeared by the doorway with a scowl set in his ugly mug, "Sally, bean dip, didn't you hear me?" he growled at the woman.

I was really starting to hate this guy, it took all of my will power to not punch the man square in the face, Percy didn't look any better but a look from Mrs. Jackson told us to let it be.

"I was on my way, honey," Mrs. Jackson told Gabe Ugliano, "I was just telling the trip to Jordan and Percy."

Gabe's already small and beady eyes got smaller, "you were serious about that?"

"I knew it," I heard Percy mutter under his breath while he glared at Gabe who remained either ignorant or decided to ignore Percy.

"Oh course he will," Mrs. Jackson said evenly as she looked at Gabe, "your stepfather is just worried about money." I snorted lightly at that, judging by his poker parties, cigars, greasy take out, and of course, the cans of beers that littered the floors, Gabe didn't worry about money if it meant he spent it, if Sally or Percy did however….

"Gabriel won't have to worry about his bean dip, I'll make him enough seven-layer dip to last the whole weekend." Sally said as Gabe softened a little bit at the thought of food.

"This money is coming out of your clothes budget, right?"

Okay the urge to punch him came back but I decided to not deck the guy right here, we wouldn't be able to go and Percy looked really excited for Montauk, I couldn't ruin it for the guy, no matter how much I wished to punch the jerk in the face.

"Yes, sweetie," Sally said.

"And you won't take my car anywhere besides here and back?"

"We'll be very careful." Sally promised the man.

Gabe scratched his multiple chins, I noticed that he had dried beer on him making me curl my nose in disgust, "well maybe if you hurry with that seven layer been dip…. And if those two brats apologize for interrupting my poker game and for that dumb brown-haired idiot," he gestured a meaty hand at me, "to apologize for scaring me."

_Or I could kick you in your nuts,_ I thought. _Maybe teach you a lesson if you sound like a little girl for a week._

But I could tell that wouldn't be a smart move, even though I really wish I could do it, I don't think Mrs. Jackson would be happy if I kicked her husband in the nuts, despite him being a world class jerk.

"I'm sorry that I interrupted your very important poker game," Percy said, though he didn't sound sincere at all, "please go back to it right now."

Gabe was looking for any sign any sarcasm in the boy's tone, apparently he had an incredibly tiny brain since he didn't seem to detect the heavy sarcasm. He then turned to me with narrowed eyebrows.

I sighed as I crossed my arms, "I'm sorry I interrupted your poker game and pretending to be your long lost son you had no idea you had."

Mrs. Jackson looked at me with confusion, I remembered she didn't know about the small prank I pulled on Gabe, _I'll tell her on the way to the beach, it'll make her day for sure, _I thought with a mental grin.

"Yeah, yeah whatever brats," he said gruffly before turning around and going into the living room.

The three of us filed out of Percy's room and sat down at the dinner table while Mrs. J started to cook dinner. Me and Percy started talking about sports, I was certain that the Packers were going to win the next Super Bowl while Percy seemed to think that the Jets were going to win. Seeing as he was a New Yorker born and raised I guess I should have expected that.

After talking about football we started to talk about one of my favorite sports to watch and play, hockey. Percy didn't really seem to watch hockey, something that horrified me to the extreme.

I spent the entire time Mrs. J was making dinner explaining about hockey, how it was played, the rules, and the sort. I then started to talk about some of the greatest hockey players to ever play, I spent a lot of time talking about Wayne Gretzky, the greatest hockey player to ever skate, but I felt like fainting when Percy said he had no idea who Wayne Gretzky was along with Sidney Crosby.

"Dude," I shook my head, "I think you've killed me."

"Its just hockey," Percy said where I looked at him in disbelief before shaking my head, "oh there is so much I need to teach you. I don't get it, you have the New York Rangers but you don't watch hockey?" I asked the boy who shrugged.

Before I could explain the greatness of hockey, something I came to love when I lived in Canada for a year (Hockey was like football in Canada). Mrs. Jackson said dinner was ready and we got ready to eat.

The food was awesome, the Jacksons plus Gabe ate chicken while I ate my own dish of different fruit and greens and vegetables. I had to put up with Gabe smacking on the chicken making the food get everywhere, he scowled when he saw me eating no meat.

"A boy needs meat," he said bluntly all of a sudden, "you'll be a stick, don't get you vegetarians, meat is meat, it's already dead may as well eat it."

I ignored the man, I highly doubted I would be stick thin, I was actually quite broad and muscular, despite only being twelve and I was much taller than other kids my age, well besides Grover.

Thinking of Grover made me frown, I kind of felt bad just ditching him, but he was seriously creeping me out. The card he had given to Percy seemed to burn in my pocket, I don't know why I kept it.

Half-blood.

I have heard that word uttered by other people only four times in my life, but even after two years I'm still no closer to the truth. I had turned to the one thing everyone uses to find answers, the internet, but that obviously failed seeing as when I looked online I just found different animals breeding into a mutt, aka a half-blood. It was either that or something really racist, so I was sure it was neither of those.

_Maybe I'll find out soon,_ I thought hopefully as I chewed on my apple, ignoring Gabe and his annoying antics.

I had no idea how right I was going to be.

Hindsight sucks.

**I'm still trying to think of Jordan's main weapon, I'm thinking of maybe getting him a sword but I'm also thinking of maybe having him use a bow, maybe even both. I'd appreciate the suggestions. Also do you guys like the first-person point of view (using I) or would you rather have me do third person (Ex: Jordan said….)? I try to make sure all my readers like my stories. Also sorry that I'm follow Canon right now, but since it's mostly just been Percy and his family, I can't really change anything, but there will be some surprises in the story that I promise.**


	4. Matador de Toros

Luckily we managed to eat dinner fast, and soon enough I was helping Percy carrying the bags into Gabe's Camaro. The car was bright red and it was obvious that Gabe loved the car, seeing as he was threatening Percy that if there was even one scratch on it, he's punch his lights out.

I rolled my eyes, honestly did he think that we were going to drive it? We _were_ twelve.

But then as Gabe walked back to the door Percy suddenly curled his hand and pressed it against his heart, then he moved his hand forward at Gabe. The door slammed shut so hard it wacked the man on the butt and sent him flying up the stair case like he had been shot out of a cannon.

I then looked at Percy before yelling, "shotgun!" and ran towards the car, shoving Percy out of the way, Percy catching up to me and trying to fight his way to the door. Percy was much smaller and wiry than me and managed to escape my grasp and get into the passenger side, he stuck his tongue at me as I sat in the back sullenly.

Sally laughed and she shook her head, "boys will be boys." She decided while the two of us laughed.

As we got closer and closer to Long Island I noticed how happier Percy and his mom got. _Guess they really like Montauk,_ I mused as I looked at the ocean.

We got there as the sun was starting to set, the cabin we were staying in wasn't exactly first class, but it had a nice feeling, like a real place to vacation at.

Percy and I got out a Nerf football and played a couple of games, which I won all of them. "It's not my fault you're bigger than me, that's cheating!" Percy said after I easily scored another touchdown where Mrs. J cheered for me and I gave a mock bow.

I grinned as I ruffled the boy's head teasingly, being taller than him had its perks, "not my fault you're a shrimp."

After Percy conceded defeat, we all walked on the beach, I gathered some drift wood that had come to shore and started a fire, living in the woods helped bring out my inner pyromania, or I guess I was just good with fire.

The three of us sat in the sand and ate more food. I then learned that Percy and his mom had an obsession with the color blue, seeing as all the food was the color. We snacked on blue tortilla chips, blue candy, blue ice cream and sipped on blue Gatorade. All in all it was awesome.

I noticed that while Mrs. Jackson seemed to be very happy I noticed she seemed a bit sad, "everything okay Mrs. J?" I asked her wondering if she wished I wasn't here and it was only here and Percy, something that made me feel bad.

"Are you thinking about dad?" Percy asked quietly as I suddenly remembered that Percy had told me that his mom had met his dad at Montauk, I began to wonder if they had spent the summer in the cabin we were in now. She deserved to be with Percy's father, definitely not with Smelly Gabe. I have only known her for half a day but I had to agree with Percy that she was one of the nicest people in the world. _I bet mom would like her, I can see them being best friends,_ I thought with a smile, before shuddering, _but what if they share baby stories of us? Do moms do that? Talk about their children's embarrassing moments or those famed 'bathtub moments'?_

Hopefully mothers didn't do that; otherwise Jordan was going to keep his mother away from Percy's mother, preferably at a hundred mile distance.

Sally's eyes got misty as she thought back to the one summer she met Percy's father, "he was kind, Percy. Tall, handsome, and powerful. But he was gentle too. You look so much like him, you have his black hair and his green eyes." Sally fiddled with a blue jelly bean, "I wish he could see you. He would be so proud of you."

Percy didn't seem to agree with her, Jordan guessed because Percy was thinking on how much trouble he caused, albeit he didn't intend for it to happen, and his bad grades, which were usually +D's.

"How old was I? When he left?" Percy asked his mother.

Sally looked at the crackling fire, "he was only with me for one summer," she reminded him, "right here on this beach, at this cabin."

"But… he knew me as a baby, right?" Percy said though it seemed more like a question.

"No, honey. He knew I was expecting a baby, but he never saw you. He had to leave before you were born."

I decided to not make any noises and pretend I wasn't here; this seemed to be getting personal.

Percy looked really upset and angry at this, I guessed he wasn't really happy to find out his dad had never been there when he was born, even if he did have to go on an important business trip.

"Are you going to send me away again?" Percy asked his mother with a scowl, "to another boarding school?"

"I don't know, honey." Sally's voice was heavy, "I think we'll have to do something."

"Because you don't want me around?" Percy blurted out but looked liked he instantly regretted it, especially since his mom looked ready to cry.

"Uhmm, do you guys want me to go walk on the beach?" I asked uncomfortably, the two looked at me in surprise as though remembering I was there.

"No, its fine, Jordan." Sally said with a small smile, though it didn't reach her eyes. "I'm sorry about this."

The talk between mother and son went on, and on but then Mrs. Jackson mentioned something new.

"I've tried to keep you as close to me as I could. They told me that was a mistake. But there's only one other option, Percy, the place your father wanted to send you. And I just… I just can't stand to do it."

"My father wanted me to be sent to a special school?"

"No, not a school. A summer camp."

That confused me, why would Percy's dad want to send him to a summer camp, yet not care to see him before he was born?

"I'm sorry Percy," Sally said sadly, "but I can't talk about it. I-I couldn't bare to send you to that place, it might mean saying good-bye for good."

"For good? But it's just a summer camp," Percy protested while I silently agreed, I may have never been to a summer camp, I doubt I'd want to spend my entire life there.

Sally went quiet and I knew the discussion was over, I stared at the burning embers in the fire, Percy was glaring at the ground, no doubt wishing the conversation would go on but knew better than to bother his mother.

The rest of the night was awkward, we all decided that it was best if we all went to bed, luckily there were four beds in the cabin, so no one had to sleep on the grimy floor and get covered in any creepy crawlies.

My dreams were a blur, never staying enough for me to make sense of it. I saw a horse racing towards a soaring eagle, the ocean swirling in pure fury as lightning flashed, a dark cave with a pit….

I woke up with a start as I heard what sounded like a mini war was going outside the small cabin, Percy and Mrs. Jackson had woken up as well, I quickly ran to the old dusty window and peered outside.

It was hard to see, it looked like a sandstorm was going on, twenty foot waves were crashing against the beach, the sound sounding like gunshots. Lightning was lighting up the night that I thought it was daytime for a brief moment.

"Hurricane." Sally said.

"There is no way there can be a hurricane," Percy protested, "Long Island never have hurricanes this early in the summer."

"Tell that to the ocean," I said loudly as the wind started to pick up, making it seem like someone was screaming right outside the door.

But then I started to listen closer, I definitely heard screaming, but it wasn't the wind. It sounded like someone was right outside the door, I could hear someone pounding on the door.

Sally heard it too and immediately sprang up from her bed and rushed towards the door, she fiddled with the lock due to it being so dark, but thanks to the lightning she managed, the door swung open and there soaking wet and panting was….

"Grover!" I yelled in surprise, but then I noticed something. Grover wasn't exactly Grover.

"Searching all night," Grover panted. "What were you thinking?"

Mrs. Jackson looked at Percy and I in terror, though I don't think she was terrified of Grover, but more of why he was here in the middle of the night with a hurricane going on.

"Percy what happened at school? What didn't you two tell me?" Sally shouted to us, having to raise her voice due to the pounding rain.

Percy and I were a little to busy gaping at Grover.

"_O Zeu kai alloi theoi!"_ He yelled at the three in the cabin. "It's right behind me! Didn't you _tell_ her?"

I was too shocked and surprised to say anything, Percy was the same way. I was even more surprised to know that Grover had sworn in Ancient Greek, and I had understood it perfectly. I was still shocked on how Grover had managed to track us down to this remote location in the middle of the night. Grover also wasn't wearing pants, and where his legs should have been…

"_Percy,_ tell me _now!"_ Sally said to the raven-haired boy.

Percy stammered out what we had left out, he told her about Mrs. Dodds, the old ladies knitting gigantic socks at the fruit stand.

Sally Jackson's face was ashen; she looked just like my mom when I told her about Lamia and how she tried to kill me.

She quickly grabbed her purse and took out the keys, "we're leaving, now!" we nodded to stunned to argue, I quickly grabbed my backpack, thankfully I hadn't completely unpacked, and grabbed my jacket.

"Get in the car, all of you. Go!"

Grover ran for the Camaro, but he wasn't running exactly. He was trotting, shaking his shaggy hindquarters, and suddenly his story of a muscular disorder made sense to me. I understood how he could run so fast and still limp when he walked.

Because where his feet should have been, there were no feet. There were cloven hooves.

The Camaro tore through the dark, country roads. Wind slammed against the car that I wondered if we were going to get blown away. The rain continued to pour, we couldn't even see five feet ahead even with the lights, I had no idea how Mrs. Jackson could see anything, but her foot stayed on the gas the entire time.

Every time there was a flash of lightning I'd look at Grover sitting next to me. I wanted to know if I was insane or I was having a crazy dream, I smelled the scent coming from him. It smelled like a wet barnyard animal.

Percy, never one to stay quiet, broke the tense silence, "so you and my mom know each other?" he asked Grover.

Grover's eyes kept glancing at the rearview mirror, despite the fact there were no cars behind us, any other sane driver was asleep in their beds. Though I had a feeling we weren't looking out for any drivers, he was looking for something _else_.

"Not exactly," he said, "I mean, we've never met in person. But she knew I was watching you two."

"Watching us?" I asked the boy sitting next to me, still staring at his furry legs in disbelief.

"Keeping tabs on you two, making sure you guys were okay. But I wasn't faking being your friend," he quickly put in, "I _am_ your friend."

"Uhmm… Grover _what _are you?" Percy asked bluntly.

"That doesn't matter right now."

"Doesn't matter!" I cried in indignation, "one of my best friends is half alpaca!"

Grover let out a sharp, throaty _"blaa-ha-ha!"_ I had heard Grover make that sound before, but I'd always assumed it was some type of nervous laugh. Not I realized it sounded like an irritated bleat.

"Goat!" Grover cried out.

"What?"

"I'm a _goat_ from the waist down!"

"You mean…. You're half man and half goat?" I asked. "You're a _Satyr_?"

Grover nodded, "yes I am."

"Whoa, whoa!" Percy said as he looked at the satyr with confusion, "like in Mr. Brunner's myths? But those are myths!" he protested.

"Were those od ladies at the fruit stand a _myth,_ Percy? Was Mrs. Dodds a myth?"

"So you _admit_ there was a Mrs. Dodds!"

"Of course."

"Then why-"

"The less you two knew, the fewer monsters you'd attract," Grover said like it was perfectly obvious and we should have known this, "we put the Mist over the humans' eyes. We hoped that you guys would think that the Kindly One was an illusion, but you guys were stubborn. You started to realize who you were. Especially you Jordan."

"Does this have anything to do with half-bloods?" I demanded and noticed how both Grover and, surprisingly, Mrs. Jackson tensed at the word.

"How do you even know about this stuff? You shouldn't have known yet, we know your mother didn't say anything, but she didn't tell us anything either." Grover said.

"Keep my mom out of this!" I said harshly. "As for where I heard that word it was when I was nearly killed by my Fourth Grade English teacher in the middle of the woods!"

"Whoa, hold up. You were almost _killed _by a different teacher _before_ all of this?" Percy asked me as he looked at me in disbelief and shock.

"Yes, I-"

I stopped when we all heard a bellowing echo behind us. The sound was deep and guttural, a bellow that made the hairs on my neck stand up all the way, my heart beating against my chest.

"Percy, there's too much to explain and not enough time," Mrs. Jackson said as she continued to drive down the countryside, somehow we hadn't crashed yet. "I need to get you three to safety."

"Safety from what? Who's after me and Jordan? We didn't do anything!" Percy argued.

"It doesn't matter if you didn't do anything, but there is still the teeny tiny problem of the Lord of the Dead sending out his most bloodthirsty minions to kill us."

"Grover!" Sally scolded the boy as Percy and I immediately started demanding answers.

"Sorry, Mrs. Jackson. Could you drive faster, please?"

I felt like pounding my head against the car window, hard. This was too confusing, I had been trying for years to get answers, but all I received were more questions and half-truths, and now in a single night I was finally getting closer to the truth.

But the truth was starting to terrify me.

Sally made a hard left. We suddenly found ourselves on a smaller and narrower road, racing past farmhouses so fast their image only seemed to flash by us for a second before the dark night reclaimed the windows and our sight. I could see the brief outlines of wooded hills and a _PICK YOUR OWN STRAWBERRIES_ sign on an age old white picket fence.

"I don't mean to be rude," I said as we continued to race through the murky night, "but can someone _please_ tell me where we are going?"

"The summer camp I was telling you two about, the place your father wanted to send you, Percy." Sally's voice was tight, she had been putting on a brave face for our sakes but I could tell she was scared.

"The place you didn't want me to go." Percy said.

"Please, Percy," Mrs. Jackson begged her son desperately, "this is hard enough. Try to understand. You're in danger."

"Because some old ladies cut yarn"

"Those weren't old ladies," Grover said grimly. "Those were the Fates. Do you know what it means, the fact that they appeared in front of you two? They only do that when you're about to…. When someone's about to die."

"Whoa. You said you're." Percy looked scared, "does this mean we're about to die or something."

"No!" Grover hastily put in, "no I meant in someone not you!" Again Grover was an awful liar.

"The Fates…" I said slowly, "Do you mean as in _the_ Fates? The ones in Greek mythology? The three sisters that decided how a person lives and dies? Those Fates?"

"Yes." Grover's tone sounded mournful, which honestly did not help the situation at all.

All of a sudden Mrs. Jackson swerved to the right, outside of the window I saw a fleeting glimpse of a figure she had swerved around to avoid, a dark flittering shape now lost behind us in the raging storm.

"What was that?" Percy asked.

"We're almost there," Mrs. Jackson ignored her son's question, "another mile. Please. Please." She seemed to be praying.

We all looked out the windows in anticipation, but all we could see was the rain and darkness. I wondered how many things like Lamia and Mrs. Dodds were hiding under that dark blanket… just waiting to sink their claws into us.

Then all of a sudden there was a blinding flash, a _boom_ that made my entire body quake, and our car exploded. I was suddenly weightless, like I was being crushed, fried, and hosed down all at the same time.

I groaned as I wearily peeled my battered body side of the door, the windows I was currently laid on was buried in the dirt. The car hadn't exploded we had fallen into a ditch. I felt something hard lodged into my gut, judging by the shape it was Grover's hoof.

"Grover… get your hoof off of me…" I groaned, but Grover didn't answer.

"Percy, Jordan, Grover, you guys okay?" Sally asked from the front.

"I'll live." I said while Percy said he was okay.

I then realized I was dripping wet, I blearily looked up to see that the roof had cracked like an eggshell and the rain was pouring into the crashed Camaro. "Did lightning hit us?" I asked as I remembered the bright flash of light shortly before the crash.

"Grover!" I called out to the boy who was still on top of me, both of our seat belts had been taken off due to the force and with gravity I now had the satyr on top of me, something that wasn't comfortable as his hooves weren't in a comfortable location. "Come on man, you're crushing me…" but then I noticed that blood was trickling out of the boy's mouth.

I shook the boy, praying for the best, and praying that Grover wasn't dead. Sure he was hiding stuff from me and was a mythological half man half goat person, but he was my friend!

"Food…" Grover groaned out and I sighed in relief, "there's hope." I said to Percy and his mother.

"We have to..." Mrs. Jackson's voice faltered .

Percy and I looked behind us. In a flash of lightning, through the now vertical mud-covered windshield, I saw a figure lumbering towards us on the edge of the road. Just seeing the figure slowly approaching made the hairs on the back of my neck raise, it was like seeing the old ladies, something was wrong and it was dangerous. Due to the storm and the fact it was night I could only see the silhouette of a huge guy, like a football player. A blanket seemed to be placed on his head. The top half of his body was bulky and fuzzy. His upraised hands made it look like he had large horns on his head.

"What is that?" I asked with a small hint of fear.

"Boys…" Sally said seriously. "Get out of the car."

She then started to throw her body against the driver's door, but it was wedged shut. My side was sunken in mud. Percy was trying his luck at his door but with no avail. The hole in the roof would have made a good escape, had not the edges been sizzling and smoldering.

"Climb out of the passenger's side!" Mrs. Jackson told us, "you two have to run, do you see that big tree?"

There was another flash of lightning and I saw what she was talking about. A huge White House Christmas pine tree at the crest of the nearest hill.

"That's the property line," Sally said, " get over that hill and you'll see a big farmhouse down in the valley. Run and don't stop to look back, yell for help. Don't stop until you reach the door.""

"Mom you're coming too, right?"

Sally's face was pale, her eyes glistening with sadness. Percy understood immediately.

"No!" he shouted, "you _are_ coming with us, you can help us carry Grover."

"Food!" Grover moaned again.

"Grover, not helping!" I hissed to the preteen, not that he would have heard me due to his unconscious state.

I realized with panic that the large figure was closer. I could hear the things ragged breath, as well as small grunts and snorts. As the distance between us slowly but surely got smaller and smaller I realized that he wasn't holding a blanket over his head. Because his large and meaty hands were swinging at his sides. There wasn't a blanket at all, meaning that the bulky fuzzy mass that was too big to be his head _was _his head. And the points that looked like horns….

"He doesn't want us," Sally said, indicating her and Grover, "he wants you two. I can't cross the border."

"Why not?" I asked the woman.

"We don't have time, go!"

Percy looked mad but I didn't have time to worry about it, Percy quickly climbed over Grover and after a few attempts managed to open the passenger door, I quickly grabbed Grover and after a couple of tense seconds managed to get him out of the car. Mrs. Jackson soon followed.

Percy quickly went over to me and we draped Grover's limp arms around our shoulders, we slowly made our way to the bottom of the hill with the pine tree.

Percy and I glanced back and we finally got a clear view of our mysterious stalker. It was monstrous to say the least. He was easily seven feet tall, his arms and legs looking like something from _Muscle Man_ magazine – bulging biceps and triceps and a bunch of other 'ceps, all stuffed like baseballs (or in my opinion, bowling balls) under vein-webbed skin. He wasn't wearing any clothes, except underwear. Bright white underwear. That would've been funny, except that everything else about the monster was terrifying.

Coarse dark brown hair sprouted around the monster's navel, it quickly getting thicker and longer the further it traveled up the ripped body. His neck was a mass of muscle and fur leading up to his enormous head, which had a snout as long as my arm, nostrils dripping with snot with a large brass ring, cruel black eyes that looked at us with no mercy, and enormous black and white horns, their tips gleaming in the night.

I knew the name of the monster instantly, it didn't take a genius to know what it was. "That's the-"

"Pasiphae's son," Mrs. Jackson interrupted me, "I wish I had known how badly they wanted to kill you two."

"The Min-"

"Don't say his name," she warned me, "names have power."

We continued to flee from the bull man, but the pine tree was still around a hundred yards away from us, and we were trying to go uphill during a storm with an unconscious satyr moaning about food.

The Minotaur had gotten to the crashed and still smoldering Camaro, why he hadn't chased after us I had no idea, but I wasn't going to complain. He quickly gave the car a couple of strong sniffs and whiffs, he was trying to find our scent.

I just prayed that the rain was washing away our scents, if not I didn't like our odds. Maybe the rain would wash it away and we could make a quick escape….

The Minotaur bellowed in rage, he picked up Gabe's Camaro by the destroyed roof, not even bothered by the heated metal, and held it above his head before throwing it down the road. It crashed into the wet asphalt and it skittered across the concrete, sparks coming to life.

The whole car skidded down the wet road like a slip-and-slide, when it had traveled a half mile in the matter of ten seconds, the car slowly stopped and promptly exploded.

"I'm assuming Gabe won't believe us if we say that a mythological creature destroyed his car," I said.

"He has awful sight, he relies on his sense of smell." Sally said. "When he sees us he will charge, wait until the last second and then jump out of the way – directly sideways. He can't change directions very well once he's charging. Do you two understand?"

"How do you know all this?" Percy asked his mother.

"I've been worried about an attack for a long time. I should have expected this. I was selfish, keeping you near me."

"Keeping me near you? But-"

There was another great bellow of rage, the Minotaur started to walking uphill, getting closer.

"I think he smells us," I said, I looked up towards the top of the hill, we were almost there, another couple yards. But the mud was getting slicker and slicker, the slope getting harder and harder to climb, and Grover felt like a bag of rocks.

The Minotaur bellowed out a war cry and charged up the hill, the slippery mud didn't seem to phase the monster, a couple more seconds and we would just be road kill. Sally grabbed Grover and went in a different direction, the Minotaur ignored the woman holding the passed out Satyr, it charged at its targets. Us.

I saw the Minotaur's razor sharp horns ready to pierce my chest, I sucked in some breath and right as the Minotaur was about to pierce the two of us we jumped out of the way, the Minotaur crashed into the pure white pine tree. The Minotaur shook its head before turning around, it pointed its large head at its targets, but it wasn't us this time, it was Mrs. Jackson and Grover, who Sally was placing onto the grass.

Percy and I were on the crest of the hill, on the other side of the hill I could see a valley, just as Percy's mom had said, and the warm lights of a farmhouse glowed yellow through the pounding rain. But the farmhouse was a good half a mile away. We wouldn't make it in time.

The Minotaur charged at the other two, Sally was quickly going down the hill to lure the monster away from the vulnerable Grover still passed out in the grass as well as us. "Run!" she yelled to us while the monster charged. Sally tried to sidestep like we had done, but the Minotaur had learned its lesson. His large meaty hand shot out and grabbed the woman by the neck as she tried to get away from the dangerous beast. He lifted her as she struggled, kicking and pummeling in the air, but it was no use against the Minotaur's iron tight grip.

"MOM/MRS. JACKSON!" A scream tore out of our throats, echoing through the silent hilltop.

She caught our eyes, managed to choke out on last word: "Go!"

Then, with an angry roar, the Minotaur closed its meaty fists around the woman's neck, and she then dissolved before our very eyes, melting into light, a shimmering golden form, as if she was transparent. A blinding flash then occurred, and she was simply… gone.

"No!"

Percy's scream of pure rage brought me out of my shock, anger was coursing through my veins, all I saw was red. This monster had just killed Mrs. Jackson, Percy's mother, I had only known her for barely a day but she had welcomed me into her home with open arms…. This monster was going to pay.

The Minotaur then turned its bulky head towards Grover, who was still laying helpless in the tall grass, for one wild second I was afraid he'd grab the Satyr and strangle the life out of him until he dissolved into a flash of light. I wasn't going to let that happen.

Percy was the first to react, he held up his bright red rain jacket, and ran to one side of the monster waving the bright jacket around, "hey, stupid! Ground beef!"

"Raaarrrrr!" The monster turned its attention to Percy, I quickly ran after the boy, who had pressed his back against the pure white pine tree, the Minotaur charged, passing past me like a freight train.

Percy jumped high into the air, kicking off of the monster's gigantic snout like a springboard, and a second latter the Minotaur's giant head slammed into the pine tree, and then all of a sudden Percy was sitting on the Minotaur's neck. The Minotaur obviously didn't like having a human using him like a pony, with a great bellow he shook his mighty head back and forth, Percy holding onto the monster's giant and deadly horns for dear life.

I heard Grover groaning for food behind me, I wanted to tell the kid to shut up but I was trying to not get smashed by the Minotaur who was trying to get Percy off of him. But then Percy grabbed a single horn and pulled back with all his might.

_Snap!_

Percy tumbled off of the towering figure, clutched in his hand was one of the Minotaur's horn, his head hit a rock and he laid on the ground groaning in pain. The Minotaur roared in pure hatred and got ready to charge at the boy, time seemed to slow down as I raced to the bull-man that was had started to charge and was gaining speed. I slammed into the monster, I didn't have enough weight or power to knock the thing off of its legs but I did managed to knock it off course enough so that Percy didn't become a grease spot on the hilltop.

I tumbled to the ground but quickly got back up, I saw the monster pawing the ground before charging at me, I quickly dodged the monster and managed to dodge the meaty hand that tried to grab me.

I knew my luck wasn't going to last for long, it never did, but how was I going to kill this thing? I had no weapons, nothing but my bare hands and I don't think I could rip apart a two ton bull monster.

I decided to improvise and ran to the tree, but I only stayed near the left side of it, the monster charged again. It wouldn't kill it but I wouldn't have to worry about that other horn…

The monster was on me in a second, I missed the hand by a centimeter, his large and thick fingers brushing roughly against the tips of my hair. The Minotaur ran into the tree yet again, but it's remaining right horn got caught on the trunk.

_Crack!_

The Minotaur shook it head in confusion, his twin horns now gone, I guess they held some weight seeing as he seemed to be unstable, but he seemed to be getting over the quickly. I heard a groan behind me and saw Percy behind me, I then heard another bellow and knew the Minotaur was charging, I saw the horn in Percy's hand. I reached for it.

With only a second to move I got to my knees and held up the razor sharp horn with both my hands, aimed at the monster who was getting closer. If I died, at least I died to save a friend.

The horn pierced the Minotaur's stomach, the Minotaur suddenly stopped and looked down at the horn piercing his chest with a dumbfounded look, before anyone could react the bull man turned into a pile of gold dust.

I collapsed onto the ground, my muscles screaming in pain, "Percy," I croaked out, "you okay?"

Percy didn't answer, it was clear that he was unconscious… I managed to roll onto my back, I stared blankly at the night sky, I noticed the rain had stopped. And then I heard soft footsteps near us, "Chiron, they're hurt." A girl's voice said above me.

My vision started to get blurry, everything was spinning and getting darker, "we need to get them medical attention, make sure we have some Ambrosia and Nectar ready," a familiar voice said as well, but I was too tired to recognize the speaker. I passed out.

**I'm thinking of putting a poll up for a pairing for Jordan. If you guys have any suggestions just review, but please no Yaoi, virgin Goddesses, or Annabeth. Percabeth can't be dissed, I'm thinking of Zoë right now but I could always not do a pairing if people don't want it.**

**Matador de Toros means Killer of the Bulls, gracias mi clase de español! Vosotros aprendéis algo.**


	5. Camp Half-Blood

My dreams were different and changing, yet again I could never remember them. I remember waking up a couple times but only to quickly fall asleep yet again. All I knew was that I was inside, I was in a warm bed, and there were people by me. I remember seeing a blonde girl with stormy grey eyes and a blonde guy with eyes all of his face, I blacked out shortly afterwards, I didn't even know if I was still dreaming.

By the time I finally woke up for good I noticed that it was daytime, how many days had passed since the attack I had no clue, but Percy was still out like a rock. The blonde girl was leaning against the wall, not noticing my dark green eyes snapping open, the light was blinding but I got used to it. I realized the girl was muttering, something that was stolen.

"Did you lose something?" I asked, more like croaked out, it sounded like sandpaper had been used against my throat, I didn't realize it when I woke up but I was thirsty. I felt like I could drink a whole lake if I wanted too.

The blonde girl jumped at my voice, I now got to see the girl closer, she had curly blonde hair, tanned skin, and stormy grey eyes that burned into me, like she was thinking of a million things at once all the while of thinking of different ways to kill me.

"Do you know what was stolen?" the girl question me as she walked quickly to my bed, she was wearing a orange T-shirt and jeans, I couldn't make out the lettering due to my eyes being sensitive to the bright color.

"No," I said truthfully, not understanding what she meant. Judging by her tone and the seriousness in her eyes something big had been stolen, so it was obviously not her toothbrush or her hairbrush.

The blonde girl noticed my hoarse voice and brought me a glass filled with a cold amber liquid. I took a tentative sip and immediately loved it, though the taste was surprising.

I tasted my mom's cookies still warm and toasty and just out of the oven, I tasted fresh and crispy apples, it was heaven. I greedily drunk the liquid, strength coursing through my body like I had just drank a dozen energy drinks, I felt great, greater than I had for days. And seeing as I had just woken up from my little rodeo, it was surprising.

"Who are you?" I asked the mysterious blonde girl.

"My name is Annabeth Chase," the girl introduced herself.

"Jordan Hunter," I greeted.

I glanced over at Percy, but he was still asleep, his head looked okay so the rocks didn't do that much damage. Annabeth noticed where I was looking at and spoke, "don't worry he's fine. Though he does have a bit of a drooling problem."

I chuckled but winced when I felt my ribs protest at the movement, Annabeth put her hand on my shoulder and gently pushed me back into the warm mattress, "careful, you're still healing. I would just take it easy, you've have a rough couple of nights."

"Tell me something I don't know," I said dryly.

The door opened and I saw Grover trotting in, two shoeboxes under his arms, his gloomy expression melting when he saw I was awake and beamed at me, "you're up!" he exclaimed as he rushed over to me.

"Yeah… feel like hell though," I said as I winced again, obviously I had cracked a couple of ribs, but I knew they were healing.

Grover's expression saddened and his posture slumped, "this is all my fault," he said mournfully, "I shouldn't have lost you guys at the bus station, you may not have been in danger."

"I'm sorry we ditched you… you were freaking us out, muttering stuff about us dying."

Annabeth sighed, "really Grover?" she asked the Satyr who looked sheepish.

"Where am I?" I asked.

"You're at camp Half-blood." Annabeth said. I noticed that Grover was wearing jeans, which hid his furry hindquarters, and the same bright orange T-shirt that I now saw the word _CAMP HALF-BLOOD _emblazoned on the neon orange shirt. "This is the camp Mrs. Jackson was talking about," I realized, "did she really?" I stopped when I saw the looks being given to me, Grover looking ashamed of himself while Annabeth's was more pitying.

"Never mind." I muttered.

Grover fidgeted slightly before he placed one of the two shoe boxes on the bed, "here, I went back to the hill and got it. You saved my life, it was the least I could do." He said.

I slowly opened the box to see one of the Minotaur's large and razor sharp black and white horn nestled in paper. The base of the horn was jagged from where the tree had ripped it off. I took it out and held it in my lap. Annabeth was looking at the horn with surprise before she looked at me with a hint of respect in her stormy eyes.

When she saw my inquisitive look she merely said, "you have to be tough to fight the Minotaur and you don't drool in your sleep."

I smiled, "I think Percy won't be happy to hear that." But my smile soon faded when I thought of my still unconscious friend, "Crap, how is Percy going to react? His mom…"

Grover sighed and looked at the unconscious Percy, his big brown doe like eyes watering alarmingly, "I'm an awful protector."

"Grover, don't say that. It wasn't your fault, stop blaming yourself," Annabeth said, it was obvious they were friends.

I decided that it may be best to change the subject, "so Grover you're a Satyr," I said as though talking about the weather, "so do you have horns?"

Grover flattened his hair and I saw two small stubs on top of his head. "Cool." I said.

I looked out the window. I could see lots of trees. We were by a forest; that was good, I always felt safe around forests. I could hear talking outside the room, laughter and shrieks. It seems we weren't the only ones here, but then again we were at a summer camp.

I was tired; my eyes were beginning to drop. "You should rest more," Annabeth advised me, "we'll wake you up when your friend does."

I nodded and fell back asleep.

The next time I woke up, Grover was lightly shaking me. I noticed that Percy was up, though I noticed that Annabeth wasn't here anymore.

Percy looked like he was trying hard not to cry, no doubt Grover had told him about the fate of his mother. He was holding up his own Minotaur's horn, nearly identical to mine. An empty glass was by him, I was assuming they had given the same drink they had given to me to Percy, judging how he was looking better and wasn't covered in bruises anymore.

"Mr. D and Chiron are waiting for you two," Grover told us as he walked out of the door, Percy and I shared a glance before we got out of bed and followed him down the porch.

When I went outside all I could think of was _whoa._ And it definitely deserved that title. I was looking at a meadow, filled with different types of flowers. Some not even native to this area. We were surrounded by groves of trees, pines mixing in among the oaks, maples, spruces, and countless other trees. A winding stream snaked its way through it all. Acres of strawberries were spread out under the blue sky. The entire valley we were in was surrounded by rolling hills, and the tallest one, directly in front of us, was the one with the huge pine tree. It looked beautiful in the sunlight. We must have been on the north shore of Long Island, because from this side of the house, the valley marched all the way up to the water, which glittered in the light about a mile or so in the distance. But that was the only normal part of this place, the entire landscape was dotted with buildings that looked like ancient Greek architecture – an open-air pavilion, and amphitheater, a circular arena – except they all looked brand new, their white marble columns shinning in the sunlight.

In a nearby sandpit a bunch of kids looking like they were in high school were playing volleyball with a bunch of Satyrs, canoes glided across a small lake to my left. Kid in bright orange T-shirts like Annabeth's and Grover's chased one another around a bunch of cabins hidden among the woods. Some of the kids were shooting arrows at an archery range. Others rode horses down trails, and, I also noticed with surprise, that some of the horses had wings.

Down at the end of the porch I saw two men sitting across from one another at a card table. Annabeth was casually leaning against the porch railing, watching the game.

The man facing me was small, but porky. He had a red nose, big watery eyes, and curly hair so black it was almost purple. He looked like one of those cherubs, the baby angels that decorated the walls and ceilings of thousands of churches. He looked like a middle-age cherub who had been raised in a trailer park. He was wearing a tiger-pattern Hawaiian shirt; he looked like he could have been one of Gabe's poker buddies.

"That's Mr. D the camp director," Grover muttered to us.

I immediately recognized the name and was horrified, "you thought _this_ guy was my dad!" I scream whispered to him. I really hoped that Grover was wrong; I really hope this middle-age cherub wasn't my dad, I may have to run away or something.

"I could be wrong, and you already know Chiron," he pointed at the man whose back was facing us, but I immediately recognized the wheelchair, tweed jacket, the thinning brown curly hair, and of course the faint scent of coffee and horses.

"Mr. Brunner!" Percy and I said as one.

Our Latin teacher turned around, that soft yet beaming smile as recognizable as ever, his eyes were twinkling like it had during class when all the answers on our quiz was going to be the letter B, for the multiple choice.

"Ah, good, Percy, Jordan," Mr. Brunner said with a smile, "now we have five players for pinochle." He gestured towards two empty chairs, I sat by Mr. Brunner's right while Percy sat at Mr. D's left.

Mr. D was looking at us with bloodshot eyes and heaved a great sigh, as though he really wished we didn't exist and would stop bothering him. I wondered if he was hung over. "Oh very well, I guess I have to say it. Welcome to Camp Half-Blood," Mr. D didn't really seem sincere, which was true as he continued, "there I said it, don't expect me to be glad to see you."

"Uh, nice to meet you too." I said while Percy mumbled out something.

Percy was scooting away from the man, I guess living with Gabe had given Percy skills to know when a man was hung over, no doubt Mr. D was a heavy drinker, if I was wrong than I was a half man half bull wandering the countryside wearing nothing but my underwear.

"Annabeth," Mr. Brunner called the blonde girl over, "this young lady is the one who healed you two back to health."

"We've meet before," I said before adding in sheepishly, "sorry, I forgot to thank you earlier."

"Why don't you go check on Percy and Jordan's bunks? They'll be staying in Cabin Eleven for the time being," Mr. Brunner said, where Annabeth nodded she then turned her piercing gaze to Percy, a bead of sweat forming on the boy's forehead as he saw the deadly gaze. "You drool in you're sleep," Annabeth said.

Percy blinked, "uhhh." Before he could reply Annabeth was already sprinting across the lawn, her blonde curls bouncing in the breeze.

I laughed at Percy's dumbfounded face. "So, uh, you work at a summer camp, Mr. Brunner?" Percy asked hastily, no doubt trying to change the subject away from his sleeping manners.

"I'm afraid that is not my name, merely a pseudonym, you may call me Chiron," the now known Chiron said.

"Does Mr. D stand for anything?" I asked, "Donald, Damon, Dakota, Dan, D'Andrea?"

Mr. D stopped shuffling his cards and looked at me with an angered look, like I had just completely disrespected him, I guess he didn't like the name D'Andrea or Donald.

"Young man, names are powerful things. You don't just go around using them for no reason." Mr. D said as he looked at me with distaste, like I was something he had found on the sole of his shoe and couldn't get it off.

"But if I don't use names how would I know what was what? How would people know my name was Jordan if I didn't give them my name?"

"I must say you two," Chiron spoke as he could tell that I was quickly infuriating the shuffler and decided to intervene before anything happened, "I'm glad to see you two alive. It's been a long time since I've made a house call to potential campers. I'd hate to think I've wasted my time."

"Thanks?" I said as I wasn't really sure on how to respond to that statement.

"House call?" Percy asked the man who had been our Latin teacher.

"My year at Yancy Academy to instruct you two. We have Satyr's at most school's, of course, always keeping a look out for any potential campers. But Grover alerted me as soon as he met you, Percy. And then he met Jordan here, after that encounter he sent another, more frantic, message to come here immediately. And so I did. I managed to convince to have your previous Latin teacher to…. ah take a leave of absence as you will."

I knew what he was talking about, I remember that we had a different Latin teacher the first week of school, but then he left abruptly and Mr. Brunner, or Chiron, had taken over the class.

"You came to Yancy to teach us?" I asked in disbelief.

Chiron nodded his head. "Yes. I wasn't so sure about you two in the beginning, I will admit it. We contacted your mothers, letting them know we were keeping an eye on you just in case you were ready to come to Camp Half-Blood. But you two still had so much left to learn. Nevertheless, you made it here and alive and with all of your important appendages intact, and that's always the first test."

"Well I'm glad we passed it, we only nearly died a dozen times," I said dryly and Percy nodded his head in agreement at my words.

"Grover," Mr. D said impatiently, completely ignoring our conversation as he looked at his cards, "are you playing or not?"

"Yes, sir!" Grover trembled as he took the sixth and final chair, I had no idea why he was so scared of this chubby little guy, but after everything that has happened in the past couple of days I was realizing that appearances could be deceiving.

"You two _do_ know how to play pinochle?" Mr. D asked us suspiciously.

"Nope."

"No."

"No,_ sir_," Mr. D said, making me liking the camp director less and less.

"Well," Mr. D told us, " it is, along with gladiator fighting and Pac-man, one of the greatest games ever created by humans. I would expect all _civilized_ young men to know the rules." Judging by the look he was giving us he didn't think we were civilized young men.

"I'm sure the two will learn," Chiron said placating to the camp director.

"Please," Percy was starting to sound desperate for answers, something that I shared with equal fervor, "what is this place? What are we doing here? Mr. B- Chiron, why did you come to Yancy Academy to just teach me and Jordan?"

Mr. D snorted, "I asked him the same thing."

Mr. D began to shuffle the forty eight cards used in Pinochle, Grover flinched every time one landed in his pile.

Chiron looked at us with that soft smile of his, as though he knew that we held the answers. We just had a puzzle set right in front of us, only a few more pieces needed to go in and it would be complete and we would have our answers.

"Did any of your mothers tell you anything?"

"No, my mom didn't. I don't think she knew anything, I mean when I told her about how I was almost killed by a monster when I was ten, she looked like her worst fears had happened, but she never told me anything," I looked down at my lap.

"Hmph, so you were nearly killed when you were a kid, big whoop." Mr. D said as he looked at his deck of cards.

Chiron shot the man a look, "this is where you learned about half-bloods, correct?"

"Just the term," I said truthfully, "she kept shrieking it, along with something about wiping out my father's line once and for all."

Grover trembles got more shaky, I was starting to wonder if his muscles had turned to jelly.

"What attacked you?" Percy asked me curiously.

"My English teacher took me out into the woods during a field trip, she started talking about my dad, how he should have died long ago," Mr. D and Chiron shot each of a look, Grover looked at me with wide eyes, "and then her bottom half transformed into a snake. She said her name was Lamia."

"The child devourer," Chiron said grimly.

"Yep." I popped the part with the p as I leaned back in the chair.

"And how did you kill her?" Chiron asked me.

"I-I didn't."

Mr. D raised a brow, "oh, did she die laughing at you?"

I gritted my teeth, "No I felt some sort of power washing over me… there was a voice, inside my head."

"Oh no, it appears the boy hears voices in his head," Mr. D cackled as he continued to look at his cards.

"Do you know what the voice said, or more importantly what he sounded like?" Chiron asked me.

"Hey, how did you know the voice was male?" I demanded, but when he remained silent I sighed, "he just said two words. _Stay calm._ And then all of a sudden we were surrounded by a dozen forest predators, they all charged at Lamia, she turned into a pile of gold dust, and the animals left."

Grover sent Chiron a look, like whatever I had said proved some point he had made. Chiron merely studied me with his thousand year old eyes.

"Will someone please tell me what's going on? I'm tired of asking questions, I want answers, please!" I begged the three players, Percy was watching the scene at hand.

"I'm afraid it's hard to tell our tale, I doubt our orientation film will help you two understand," Chiron said as he made his bid in Pinochle.

"Orientation film?"

"Well you are aware of some facts, like Grover being a Satyr." Chiron pointed at the two horns we both carried, "and that you have slayed the Minotaur, no small feat. What you may not know is that great powers are at work in your life. Gods, the forces you call the Greek Gods, the Olympians, are very much alive."

Complete silence, it was so silent I could hear my heartbeat. Percy looked just as shocked as I did, my mouth suddenly felt dry again.

Mr. D suddenly yelled, "Oh, a royal marriage! Trick! Trick!" he cackled, causing me to nearly jump out my skin when he yelled unexpectedly.

"Mr. D," Grover asked timidly, "if you're not going to eat it, can I have Diet Coke can?"

"Eh? Oh, all right."

Grover took a bite from the aluminum can and started to chew it, guess I wasn't the only one who could eat metal, but I wasn't half goat so that didn't really make sense to me.

"So you're telling me that gods exist," I said to Chiron.

"Yes, the Olympians and their offspring, to be precise."

"So like Zeus, Hera, Hermes, Demeter, those gods." I said, distant thunder echoed through the cloudless sky.

"Young man," Mr. D warned, "I would really be less casual about throwing those names around, if I were you."

"But they're stories!" Percy protested. "Myths, like how to explain the seasons and lightning. It's what people believed before there was science."

"Science," Mr. scoffed at the term. "And tell me, Perseus Jackson." Percy flinched when Mr. D used his full name, "what will you humans think of your 'science' two thousand years from now? Hmm? They will call it primitive mumbo jumbo. That's what will happen. Oh, I love mortals, they have absolutely no sense of perspective. They think they have come _s-o-o_ far! And have they, Chiron? Look at these two dunder heads and tell me."

A lump the size of an apple was in my throat, the way this guy spoke about us mortals, as though he wasn't. This was a very intense Pinochle game.

"So immortals exist, like the kind that never die, ever?" I stated.

"Congratulations, you figured out the easiest and simplest thing in the world," Mr. D said as he waved his hand and a goblet appeared on the table, as if the sunlight had been bent, momentarily, and woven the air into glass. The goblet filled itself with red wine.

My jaw dropped at the sight, Percy's jaw looked ready to hit the table. Chiron didn't even look up from his card, "Mr. D, your restrictions." He warned the man.

Mr. D looked at the wine and feigned surprise. "Dear me," he looked up at the cloudless sky and yelled, "old habits! Sorry!"

More thunder.

Mr. D waved his hand again, and the wineglass changed into a fresh can of Diet Coke. He sighed unhappily, popped the top of the soda, and returned to his game, grumbling under his breath.

Chiron winked at us. "Mr. D offended his father a while back, took a fancy to a Dryad who had been declared off-limits."

"You got to hate it when that happens," I said not sure on how to respond to that, since I remembered that Dryads were tree spirits, how one can fall in love with a tree was beyond me.

I then had a weird image of Mr. D flirting with a tree, he was laying on a picnic table and was offering a young maple more wine, and then giving her a goodnight kiss…. I shuddered, did _not_ need that image

Percy was still staring at the Diet Coke can with boggled eyes, like it was some sort of ancient alien relic.

"Yes," Mr. D confessed. "Father loves to punish me. The first time, Prohibition. Ghastly! Absolutely horrid ten years!" Mr. D looked at me slyly, "though I did manage to get something out of that one, Father decided not to do that as a punishment again. When I couldn't drink, I had every alcoholic beverage banned in the country! It was around the 1920's if I remember. Lasted for thirteen years," he chortled. "The second time, well she was very pretty, and he sent me here." Mr. D sounded like he was talking about a nasty New York sewer, "Camp Half-Blood, a summer camp for you brats. 'Be a better influence,' he told me. 'Work with youths rather than tearing them down.' Ha! So unfair." Mr. D pouted, sounding like a kid not getting what he wanted.

I swallowed, "you started the Prohibition in the 1920's?"

Mr. D laughed, "Indeed, father never tried that again. So much crime happened because of that, and he was trying to control it along with the others, but I guess you mortals love your happy juice."

"And your father is?" Percy questioned.

"_Di immortals, _Chiron," Mr. D said. "I thought you taught the boy the basics. My father is Zeus, of course."

I instantly realized who this guy was. "You're Dionysus, the god of wine."

Mr. D rolled his eyes. "What do they say these days, Grover? Do the children say, 'Well duh!?"

"Y-yes, Mr. D."

"Then, well, duh! Jordan Hunter! Did you think I was Artemis, perhaps?" Okay God or not, this guy was really starting to grate my nerves, and his comparison was rather weird. The chubby immortal definitely didn't look like the virgin Goddess.

"Actually most kids are saying YOLO right now…" I said as I glanced at my cards and made my bid.

Mr. D frowned. "And what is YOLO?"

"You Only Live Once?" I offered.

Mr. D rolled his eyes again and scoffed. "What a foolish saying! A person can live up to three times, if they choose rebirth when they die to try and gain entry to the Isles of the Blessed."

"So it would be YOLT? You Only Live Thrice?" I asked curiously.

"Can we please get back to the subject?" Chiron asked patiently.

Mr. D looked a bit sheepish, "ah true, then indeed yes I am a god."

"A god. You."

Jordan wanted to face palm at Percy's very blunt statement, especially since the wine god didn't look happy at that.

He looked at Percy, who gulped. Mr. D's eyes had a purplish fire burning in them, it was only a hint of this whiny, chubby little man that was only showing me the tiniest bit of his true nature. I saw visions of grape vines choking unbelievers to death, drunken warriors insane with battle lust, sailors screaming as their hands turned into flippers, their faces elongating into dolphin snouts. I knew that if Percy continued to anger Mr. D, the next time I'd see him would be him in an asylum, with a straitjacket on him.

"Would you like to test me, child?"

"No. No, sir." Percy said hastily.

The purple fire died down, he turned back to the card game. "I believe I win."

"Not quite, Mr. D," Chiron said with a smile. He set down a straight, tallied the points, and said, "The game goes to me."

I thought Mr. D was going to vaporize Chiron, but he just sighed through his nose, as if he was used to being beaten by a middle school Latin teachers. Mr. D got up, Grover rising with him. "I'm tired," Mr. D announced, as though we were supposed to care, "I am going to go take a nap before the stupid sing-along tonight. But first, Grover, we need to talk, _again_, about your less-than-perfect performance on this assignment."

Grover's face turned white and a bead of sweat trickled down his forehead, I was really beginning to regret ditching him at the bus stop, I didn't know he'd get into so much trouble because of it.

"Hunter, Jackson, Cabin Eleven. And mind your manners, otherwise I'll just decide to turn you into grape juice," Mr. D went into the farmhouse, Grover shuffling after him miserably.

"Such a charming man," I finally said as the door closed shut.

"Will Grover be okay?" Percy asked Chiron.

Our Latin teacher nodded his head, though he seemed troubled. "Old Dionysus isn't really mad. He just hates his job. He's been, I guess you could say, grounded and he has to wait another century until he can go back to Olympus."

"The mountain?"

"No, that resides in Greece, I mean as in the ancestral home of the Gods." Chiron then explained about how wherever the concept 'Western Civilization' occurred, the Gods would move there. The Olympian Gods were now in America.

"Oh cool," I really had no idea on what to say to that so I just went with it. "Who am I Chiron?" I asked desperately. "Who are we?" I gestured towards Percy as well.

Chiron smiled at me, he shifted his weight as though he was about to get up from his wheelchair, but I thought that was impossible since he was paralyzed from the waist down.

"Who are you?" Chiron mused, "well that is something we are all wondering Jordan, Percy. But until we know for sure, you will stay in Cabin Eleven for the time being. You will get to meet new friends, lessons will be tomorrow, and, of course, s'mores tonight at the campfire."

"That didn't really answer my question," I mumbled.

Chiron then rose from his wheelchair, but there was something odd about the way he did it. His blanket fell away from his legs, but the legs didn't move. His waist kept getting longer, rising above his belt. At first I thought he was wearing very long, white velvet underwear, but as he kept rising out of the chair, taller than the average man, I realized he wasn't wearing any underwear. I saw four hooves acting as his legs.

My Latin teacher was a centaur.

"Oh I've been stuck in that chair for far too long, my fetlocks had fallen asleep," Chiron said as though he had _not_ suddenly gained the lower body of a white stallion, "and now a tour." He slowly walked down the porch, Percy and I looked at one another before we followed the centaur.

We passed the volleyball pit, everyone bowed to the centaur, one person pointed at us and whispered to a buddy, "that's _them_."

Joy, I'm already being judged by people I don't know. Hopefully they thought we were awesome instead of some weirdos who spend their free time fighting bull men modeling the newest type of undergarments.

The farmhouse we had stayed in was four stories tall, sky blue with white trim, a brass eagle weather vane was on the top, I saw movement at the top window of the house, I assumed that it was an attic.

Percy saw it too. "Is there anyone who lives in the attic?" he asked Chiron.

Chiron's smile faded, "not anymore."

I knew that the matter was closed, though of course that just made me more curious.

"So are all these kids half-bloods? The children of gods?" I finally asked as I looked at all the kids running around having fun or training.

"Indeed."

"No adult half-bloods though, are they like in college or something?" I asked seeing that most were just kids in their teens or preteens.

"The ones that survive," Chiron said brusquely as though he would rather not talk about the subject.

Well _that_ killed the mood.

"So, if everyone here is the child of a god," I started.

"Or goddess, its not just the male immortal being who have children you know," Chiron put in with a soft smile.

"Okay and goddesses," I said, "so does that mean me and Percy are…. You know?"

Chiron looked at me with a soft smile, "a child of a god?" he asked gently, "yes, your fathers are Greek Gods, which ones? We do not know." He looked at us quizzically, and for some reason I felt like Chiron knew, or at least had a hint, of who our parent was.

"Grover isn't in that much trouble because of us, right?" I asked, "he protected us… kind of. But it should still count."

"Grover has big dreams, perhaps bigger than are reasonable. To reach his goal, he must first demonstrate great courage by succeeding as a keeper, finding a camper and bringing them safely to Camp Half-Blood."

"He did that!" Percy argued.

"I might agree with you, but it isn't my place to decide on Grover's performance. That right goes to Dionysus and the Council of Cloven Elders. They will not be as kind as I, seeing as Grover lost you two at the bus station in New York." Percy and I looked down at the ground ashamed, we hadn't thought giving Grover the slip would get him in some serious trouble. "Then there was the unfortunate fate of your mother, Percy." Chiron said, "not to mention the fact that Annabeth and I discovered you three greatly injured while the Minotaur itself was turning to pile of dust, thanks to Jordan. The fact that Grover was unconscious and couldn't have helped two boys who had no idea of this world or what they really were having to fight a monster even a senior camper would have trouble taking down…. I'm afraid it's not good."

"He'll get a second chance, won't he?" Percy asked our four-legged teacher.

Chiron went silent, he stared at the surroundings around us. He was obviously thinking of a way to deliver bad news without upsetting us. I realized what he was going to say.

"That was his second chance, wasn't it?" I asked Chiron who merely nodded. "His first time, it couldn't have been that bad." I protested.

"I'm afraid that it was indeed 'bad', Jordan." Chiron told us, "what happened five years ago…. Well I knew the reason why the Council was wary of giving Grover another chance to find half-bloods and bring them here, to safety."

"Whose this council?" I demanded, "they can't dictate what Grover can and can not do!"

"I'm afraid that do have the power to say what Grover can and can not do," Chiron told us, "if only the boy had waited longer, honed his skills more. I should have realized before how much he wishes to gain his searcher's license."

"Can't we, like, go to the council and demand them to give him another chance?" I asked the man who shook his head.

"I'm afraid that the only one the councilmembers will remotely listen too is Dionysus, and well," he trailed off slightly, "I have doubts that he would help you two."

"Fantastic," I muttered.

Percy seemed to be deep in thought, his eyebrows were crinkled as he pondered, "Chiron, if all this stuff about gods and goddesses are real… does this mean the Underworld exists as well?"

_That's not good,_ I thought, knowing full well why Percy asked that question. Chiron seemed to realize the reason for the question, "yes, the land of the dead does exist. Where those who have passed on now reside, but I strongly suggest that you get any ideas out of your head." Percy looked liked he wanted to argue but Chiron directed us towards another part of camp.

I instantly fell in love with the woods, it was just so vast. It took up an entire quarter of entire valley, the trees were so tall and thick it was really easy to imagine that nobody had been here since the Native Americans. Chiron then informed us that the woods were stocked with all sorts of deadly monsters, so we would have to watch our step if we decided to venture in alone. Chiron was looking at me when he was saying that.

Chiron also informed us that Capture the Flag was this Friday. "Something tells me this isn't a normal Capture the Flag," I stated to the centaur who merely smiled and winked slyly at me, instantly confirming my suspicions.

We walked past a large lake with a whole bunch of campers and satyrs canoeing on it. The archery range, where a whole bunch of blonde campers were getting bulls eyes from fifty yards away. We then passed the stables (which Chiron didn't seem to like. Go figure). Dozens of horses with coats ranging from roan, grey, white, and chestnut. I blinked a couple of time when I saw a couple of pure white horses with wings on their sides, I would of thought I had gone crazy in the sun if I hadn't seen Percy staring at them the way he had been staring at Mr. D's Diet Coke can. We also passed a javelin range, where a bunch of bulky kids where piercing the poor straw dummy with the sharp projectiles. There was a sing-along amphitheater, and a fight arena where more campers were fighting one another with a different assortment of sharp and deadly weapons.

Chiron then pointed at an outdoor pavilion that was surrounded by Grecian columns. The entire place was set on top of one of the many hills, I could see the faint outline of a beach, meaning that you could see the entire Pacific Ocean from there.

"What do you do if it rains?" Percy asked Chiron who looked at him weirdly as though he had spoken a foreign language.

"We still have to eat, don't we?" Was his short answer, Percy decided to drop the subject.

Finally, we ended the tour at the cabins. There were twelve of them, all nestled in the woods near the lake. They were arranged in a U, with two at the base and five in a row on either side. And without a doubt they were the oddest collection of buildings I had ever seen in my whole life, I was used to odd but I think the buildings took the cake.

The only thing the cabins seemed to share was that each cabin had a large brass number above the door (odds on the left, evens of the right), after that there was nothing else that resembled one another. Number Nine was made out of concrete slabs, with multiple smokestacks on the flat roof, the whole thing reminded me of a mini factory. Number Four had tomato vines on the walls and a roof made of real grass. All types of flowers dotted the little greenhouse/cabin, some not even native to the state or even the entire continent. Number Seven seemed to be made of solid gold, which gleamed in the sunlight making it impossible to stare at for a long period of time without getting blinded. Number One and Two, the ones that were at the head of the twelve random cabins, looked like a place I would put a dead relative, like gigantic mausoleums.

Cabin One was the largest of the twelve. It's polished bronze doors shimmered like a hologram, so that no matter what angle you looked at you could see lightning streaking across the polished bronze doors.

Cabin Two seemed to be more graceful, with much slimmer marble columns garland with pomegranates and flowers. The marble was carved with dozens of images of peacocks.

"Zeus and Hera?" Percy guessed as he watched the lightning strike the door.

"Correct," Chiron said.

"Why are their cabins empty?" I asked curiously, "don't they have kids too?" While I knew from the myths that Hera never had any kids with mortals (goddess of marriage and all that) I knew that pretty much half of the ancient Greek Heroes were children of Zeus, the King of Olympus. Surely he had to have a kid somewhere?

Chiron didn't answer, we then quickly realized Percy had left our small group. After a quick look around we saw him standing in front of Cabin Three. The cabin was much lower than Cabin One and Two, yet it still seemed to have its own special grandeur. The outer walls was made of some sort of rough grey stone embedded with bits of seashell and coral, as if the slabs had been hewn straight from the bottom of the ocean floor. Percy was peering inside the low cabin, though he didn't enter it. As soon as I got closer I could smell the sea coming from the cabin, it reminded me painfully of Montauk, where our vacation had been cut short due to a hairy beast man trying to kill us. Judging by the look on Percy's face he was thinking that too. The whole cabin, like Cabin One and Two, was empty. Cobwebs were strewn from the bed posts to the wall, the rough floor was gritty with what looked like decades of dust and grime. I was happy when Chiron pulled us away from the little cabin.

Cabin Five was an interesting place to say the least. Rock music was blaring so loud I was sure it was going to create an earthquake. A whole bunch of the biggest and meanest looking kids were chilling on the front porch, either arm wrestling one another or arguing with one another. The loudest one was a girl around the age of 14 or 15 with stringy brown hair, she was wearing a size XXXL Camp-Half Blood T-shirt underneath a camouflage jacket, and it wasn't for her being chubby more like being the most muscular woman I've ever seen in my life. The mean-looking girl instantly zeroed in on Percy and gave him a sneer so evil I'm sure that Nancy Bobofit would be jealous.

We walked past Cabin Five, I smiled slightly when I saw one of the few people I knew in this camp. Annabeth was sitting on a chair on the last cabin to the left, number eleven. When we got closer she nodded her head in greeting to me before staring at Percy as though she was wondering if he drooled while awake as well. It was funny when Percy self-consciously wiped his mouth with his sleeve as though to make sure there wasn't any drool.

I noticed with interest that the book wasn't in English, it was even more interesting when I realized that it was in the Greek Alphabet and I could understand it perfectly. _Looks like I don't have to get a Rosetta Stone for Ancient Greek for Christmas, _I thought with a small smile.

"Annabeth, I'm afraid I have an archery class to go to, will you show Percy and Jordan where they will be sleeping?" Chiron asked the blonde who nodded, "yes, sir."

"Boys this is Cabin Eleven," he gestured towards the large brass 11 above the door which was nailed next to what appeared to be a…. Caduceus?

Cabin Eleven looked old. Not a little worn down old but Fates knitting socks of doom on the road old, meaning ancient. What little brown paint remained on the worn down wood was peeling, a couple of windows that were so grimy I had trouble wondering if they were windows was in the front of the cabin and surrounding the sides. The wooden porch that wrapped around the cabin was worn out and corroded, with chips of wood sticking out.

Inside the cabin there was one word that defined it, _packed._ It was like a Red Cross evacuation center had crashed into a homeless shelter, except with a whole bunch of rowdy teenagers instead of homeless people. There were way too many kids, not enough bunk beds for everyone, and multiple sleeping bags were spread all over the floor, leaving no clear path through the camped cabin.

The instant we stepped into the cabin with Annabeth everyone got quiet and stared at us. I knew that they were sizing us up, trying to see if the rumors were true. That we were awesome super fighters that had defeated _the_ Minotaur.

So obviously Percy tripped over his own two feet as he tried to walk forward, there were a couple of snickers from some campers. I rolled my eyes, so much for looking cool.

"Percy Jackson, Jordan Hunter, meet Cabin Eleven." Annabeth announced.

"Regular or undetermined?" someone asked from the back of the cabin.

"Undetermined."

Everybody in the cabin groaned.

A guy who was a little older than the rest of the campers came forward. "Now, now, campers. That's what we're here for. Welcome, you guys. We got you some spots on the floor, over there." The guy was cool. He was around nineteen, tall and muscular. He had short-cropped sandy hair and a friendly smile that made me want to trust him. He wore a bright orange tank top instead of the normal T-shirt, cutoffs, sandals, and a leather necklace with five different colored beads. The only thing unsettling about him was a thick white scar that ran from just beneath his right eye to his jaw, like someone had tried to slash his face with a knife and managed to get a hit.

"This is Luke," Annabeth said. Was she _blushing?_ Annabeth saw the two of us looking at her and her blush disappeared and fixed us with a deadly glare as though challenging us to say something, we did the smart thing and kept our mouths shut. "He's your counselor for now."

"For now?" I asked curiously.

"You guys are undetermined," Luke explained, "we don't know who your parents are, so you'll be staying here until then. Cabin Eleven takes all newcomers, all visitors. Naturally, we would. Hermes, our patron, is the god of travelers."

I also knew about a small fact about the god whose cabin we were in, Hermes was the god of thieves. I glanced around at the kids in the cabin. Some were sullen and gloomy while looking at us with hardened suspicious eyes, some were grinning stupidly, and some were eyeing me as if they were waiting for a chance to pick my pockets.

All I had was my Minotaur horn as well as my back pack (Grover had gotten it from the hill we had fought the Minotaur), luckily there was still the stuff I hadn't packed yet. Meaning I had a little bit of money, my Ipod, some clothes, and some other things I had put in it that I thought would be good for vacation. Percy only had his Minotaur horn as he had left all of his stuff in the cabin.

"How long will we be here?" I asked Luke.

Luke smiled at me, "good question. Until you are determined."

"How long will that take?"

The campers all laughed at that, shaking their heads as though I had asked something really dumb and everyone knew the answer. Some of the more sad and sullen kids just sulked in the corner, their eyes seemed to get harder when they heard my question. I suddenly felt like I had asked something really offensive with my innocent question.

I shifted my feet awkwardly, I was very happy when Luke diverted their attention and Percy and I made a hasty retreat out of the cabin. Before we could relax we heard someone yell. "Hey! Newbies!"

It was the girl from Cabin Five, with three other large goons flanking her. Both were as bulky as the leader, mean-looking, and they seemed to look like they wanted to beat us up. Joy.

Annabeth sighed wearily, "Clarisse." She said to the lead girl, "why don't you go polish your stupid spear or something?"

"Sure, Princess," Clarisse sneered at the blonde, "then I'll get to run you through with it Friday night."

"_Erre es korakas!"_ Annabeth yelled to Clarisse, which I realized she had shouted 'Go to the crows'! I may not be the most fluent person in Ancient Greek but I was sure that wasn't a compliment.

Clarisse gritted her teeth but ignored her, "so who are these runts?" she asked as she looked at said runts, aka us.

"Hey I'm not a runt!" I said to the girl, but it didn't help my case when I realized that not only was she bigger than me, she was also taller than me, no doubt thanks to her age.

"This is Jordan Hunter and Percy Jackson. Guys meet Clarisse, daughter of Ares, the god of war." Annabeth announced though judging by the glares she was sending to Clarisse they weren't exactly buddy buddy.

"The war god?" Percy questioned as he looked at Clarisse.

Clarisse sneered at us, "got a problem with that, runts?"

"No it's just surprising. I'd have though you'd be the daughter of the god of rainbows, unicorns, and pixie dust," I quipped.

Clarisse growled at me. "Looks like we got a wise guy, listen here new guys, we have a traditional initiation for the new blood. Why don't I show you?"

Annabeth tried to calm down the situation, "Clarisse-"

"Stay out of it, nerd." Clarisse growled to the blonde who glared at the brunette.

Percy handed Annabeth the Minotaur horn, obviously ready for a fight. Both of us were entirely surprised to see Clarisse suddenly have Percy in a headlock.

Her other goons were closing in on me, I acted on pure instinct. I punched one of Clarisse's goons in the jaw, the goon stumbled back but before I could do anything else the other two flanked me and grabbed my arms and pinned them to my back before dragging me to what I instantly recognized as the bath room.

I tried to rip myself out of their grips, but the two held me back while still dragging me across the clearing. I fought and kicked but they had grips of iron. The next thing I knew was that I was in the girl's bathroom, Clarisse was laughing as Percy tried to escape from her. The whole place smelled like any public bathroom along with it being a camp bathroom, meaning that it smelled awful.

Clarisse dragged Percy to one of the toilets while her friends dragged me to another, the thing smelled like rusted metal and what goes in toilets.

"Like he's Big Three material," Clarisse said as she looked at the struggling Percy while the ones holding me were laughing. I could see Annabeth in the corner of my eye watching the whole thing behind her hands.

I was then forced to get onto my knees, I kept on trying to fight but it was like fighting an iron wall, Percy was in the same situation as me. I tried to keep my head up but the one who I had punched in the face pushed it down, judging by the look on his face he was happy to do so.

Then something happened that I was pretty sure something I didn't do. I could hear the plumbing below me rumble while the pipes encased by the wall shuddered. I could feel the goons grip on my clothes and hair lessen, I instantly took advantage of that and ripped myself out of their grip. Before I could do anything, water burst out of the gross johns and blasted into the people who had been holding me as well as Clarisse.

The force of the power was like a fire hose, all four of them were shot into the shower stalls by the toilet water. Immediately the shower stalls turned on and drenched the four while keeping them on the ground due to the pressure of the water.

Clarisse somehow managed to get up despite the fact she was getting blasted by the water, she staggered towards Percy with a look that said she wanted to murder him with a rusty spoon.

More water came from my toilet and hit her in the face along with all the other toilets and showers, she was sent flying out of the bathroom, her friends quickly following suit as they were swept away by the water.

Then as fast as it had come the water stopped. The entire bathroom was flooded. I realized that I was completely drenched. "Aw man, this better be water!" I said hoping that all the liquid from the toilets was water.

Annabeth was drenched as well, though luckily she hadn't been swept out by the tsunami of toilet water, she was staring at Percy in shock. I was looking at him in shock as well.

The reason for this was because Percy was dry, not even a drop of liquid on his body. There was even a small circle of dry land where he stood.

"Dude…" I said in shock, "you just became like the King of the Plumbing." I snickered despite the situation, "oh man I'll never forget that nickname."

Percy got up shakily, Annabeth was still staring at him in shock. All three of us went outside to see the funny sight of Clarisse covered in mud (at least I hope it was mud), her hair was caked to her head, and she was currently giving Percy a death glare. "Ohhh, you are so dead, both of you," she glared at me even though I wasn't the one who went plumbing-fu on her. "You are all dead!"

Percy, never the one to be tactful, merely said, "you want to gargle with toilet water again, Clarisse? Close your mouth."

I quickly grabbed the back of Percy's jacket and pulled him back so he wasn't punched in the face by an angry child of war. Her friends had to pull her back as she continued to scream threats.

Annabeth was staring at us, "I think I want you two for Capture the Flag." She suddenly said.

"Well jolly good," I said as I tried to get rid of some of the water off my jacket, which failed due to the fact I was drenched, "now if you will excuse me." I started to walked back to Cabin Eleven.

"Dude, where are you going?" Percy called after me.

"To go take a shower, next time I use the bathroom I'd appreciate it if you didn't go all plumbing-fu on me!"


	6. First Lessons

Luckily when I took a shower in the guy's bathroom I wasn't swept out of it by any water. Even though shower times were usually after or before dinner nobody denied me my much needed shower, especially since I hadn't taken a shower since before the Minotaur fight, I bet I smelled rank enough to be able to play in Gabe's poker parties.

Luke allowed me to borrow one of his Camp Half-Blood T-shirt's, seeing as most of my clothes were wet from getting dunked in toilet water, luckily nothing else got wet and thus was still usable. It'd have sucked if I couldn't use my Ipod.

Now that I was wearing the standard orange T-shirt, jeans, and sneakers, I seemed to blend right in with the others. Though I kept hearing whispers behind my back when the campers thought I wasn't looking. Something about fighting the Minotaur and the girl's bathroom water.

I walked out of the guy's bathroom and noticed the field that was in the heart of the U shaped cabins. It was roughly around the size of a soccer field, with a bunch of basketball hoops, Greek statues and columns. In the center of the field was a huge stone-lined fire pit that was large enough to have a giant bonfire and roast a Minotaur-sized pig. Though I really hoped I hadn't just jinxed myself and the second I left the camp I'd get attacked by a gigantic herbivore that probably wasn't really a herbivore, more like a _I-want-to-eat-you_ type of pig. A girl around the age of nine or ten was tending the flames, poking the coals with a stick. Why there was a fire in the daytime confused me but then again I was in the middle of a summer camp surrounded by mythological creatures and the children of the Olympian gods and goddesses.

I slowly walked up to the large fire pit, the girl didn't seem to acknowledge my approach, she merely continued to poke at the embers with what I now realized was an iron staff, not a stick.

"Uh, hi." I greeted as I gave a short wave but when she continued to look at the fire I stuck it into my pocket awkwardly, I was never good with first impressions.

"Hello," the girl said. Her voice was soft and warm, making me feel instantly safe. I felt as though I had heard my mother's calming voice telling me that everything was going to be okay, the only thing in the world that could instantly calm me down.

"So do you always tend the fire?" I asked curiously as I sat down besides her and looked at the fire, was it my imagination or was the fire a much brighter red than normal?

"Yes, I'm not really the type of girl to swing my sword or shoot an arrow at a moment's notice. Though from what I've heard you already seemed to have made a name for yourself. Defeating the Minotaur and according to some of the campers something concerning toilet water," she turned around to look at me, a warm smile on her petite face. "Should I ask?" she questioned with a small giggle.

The girl was beautiful, even for a nine year old. She had dark mousy brown hair that curled at her small shoulders. Her whole frame seemed small and gentle, like she was vulnerable. But something told me that she was much stronger than she looked. While she had the look of a gentle little girl I felt like she could defeat a thousand Minotaurs if she got angry or someone important to her was in danger. Her gentle chocolate brown eyes reminded me of so many things, all of them comforting. I thought of hot chocolate I would have with my mom in the bitter chilly winter whenever we went camping. I remembered the warm brown eyes of the mama Grizzly bear that had saved my life and reunited me with my mother. I thought of my mother's soft brown eyes sparkling with love, as she looked at me with the protectiveness only a loving mother could have.

I stuck out my hand, her pale hand snaked her way into mine and we shook our hands in greeting. "Name's Jordan. Jordan Hunter." I greeted the girl with a soft smile, for the first time in a couple of days I felt myself relaxing. I could trust this girl, I felt like I could tell her any secret and she would never tell.

"Tia." Tia's brown eyes seemed to light up as though she had said some sort of inside joke I wasn't aware of.

"No last name?" I teased gently, knowing I could never actually try and hurt this little girl that had just seemed to make my day seem lighter and much less depressing.

Her giggle made my smile get bigger, "no I'm afraid not. Just Tia."

"So how long have you been at this camp?" I asked curiously, "I'm afraid I'm the newbie." I looked down at my borrowed Camp Half-Blood shirt and noticed that Tia was in a simple brown dress, but with her wearing it I felt like I was looking at a designer dress. "So are you allowed to wear stuff besides orange?" I looked at her with mock anger, "I'm afraid wearing anything but bright neon orange is against the rules!"

Tia laughed at my joke, which was surprising since I was usually got nervous around girls, but Tia was different. Maybe because she was nine.

"You're an interesting person, Jordan. Most people seem to ignore me when they arrive."

That made me angry, who could ignore this adorable little girl that seemed to make all my problems melt away without even trying.

"Why do they ignore you?" I asked curiously though I was burning in anger at the thought of someone ignoring her. I shook my head, what was happening to me?

"Oh its not so bad. Some kids stop by and talk but only once or twice. People have better things to do than talk to me, I don't really go anywhere but here, just tending the hearth. I don't mind." Tia said truthfully and didn't really seem upset about it, which made my anger dim down but I still couldn't understand why people seemed to ignore her.

"So you tend this fire," I said as I looked at the reddish flames, "did you know that in some Native American tribes there is a position where one tends the flames in the camp? It's a big honor."

_Good job Jordan, way to make yourself look like a nerd in front of the first person you've meet at this camp besides Annabeth._

However Tia seemed to be intrigued by this piece of information. "Really? Most people don't think that tending the flames is a cool as say defeating a giant tentacly monster. But people would be surprised on how much the hearth is important, it's the symbol of home."

I thought back to all the times I lived in little cabins with my mom, some not even having enough electricity to have light. We would always light a fire and that was all we would need. As I gazed into the fire Tia was tending I couldn't help but think of all the places I had lived with my mother, but I couldn't think of any of them as home due to the fact I never stayed long enough to call a place home. The longest place I've stayed in was Yancy Academy but to call a school your home just seemed weird and extremely nerdy.

Before I could respond my stomach decided to make its current situation of starvation known by grumbling loudly. I blushed bright red while Tia tried, and failed, to stifle a giggle.

"Hey come on, being in a mythological rodeo builds up an appetite," I tried to defend myself but Tia continued to giggle at me. She then went through a bag that was by her, I hadn't noticed it before it was almost as though it had just appeared there when I wasn't looking, and she pulled out an apple and a Dr. Pepper and offered it to me.

I happily took the apple and soda, the apple was awesome cool and crispy despite us baking in the hot sun. I devoured the apple, core and all, in the matter of several seconds. I happily sipped on the icy Dr. Pepper before looking at Tia with a beaming smile. "You ma'am are a goddess." I said in appreciation to the girl who had given me the awesome food and drink.

Tia seemed to find that extremely funny as she heaved slightly in laughter. I just sat there bemused. "What? It was a good apple and soda." I said but she merely continued to laugh.

I groaned as I leaned backwards and rested my back against the ground. "Why am I always kept in the dark?" I whined.

"Maybe for your own protection, this is a dangerous world. Sometimes knowing too much causes more trouble than being ignorant," Tia advised me, for a second her childish seemed to be alight with knowledge and wisdom.

I found myself nodding at her words, though I couldn't help but inwardly sigh seeing as I was being lectured by a nine year old, even worse because said nine year old was right.

"So whose your immortal parent?" I asked the kid curiously.

"Oh look it's dinner time." The second Tia said it a conch shell echoed throughout the valley, I realized with shock that the sun was setting. I must have been here for an hour or so without realizing it. I saw all of Cabin Eleven filling out of the worn down cabin, Percy at the back.

I turned my head to say goodbye to Tia, but nobody was by me. It was as though Tia had turned into smoke and simply vanished. Deciding that she may have run to one of the cabins while I was distracted I quickly headed towards Percy and my new cabin mates.

"Hey man, where were you?" Percy asked me curiously as we slowly marched up the hill towards the pavilion where everyone ate.

"Sorry I was talking with a camper after I took a shower because you decided to use me as target practice when you became one with the plumbing," I said to Percy who had the decency to blush. "Uh is it just me or did you just see a little kid come out of a maple tree?" I asked Percy as I saw a little girl around the age of ten melt out of the maple and happily skipped up the hill towards dinner. "Hey so if tree nymphs are trees, why do they need to eat food? Don't they get their energy from photosynthesis?"

"Dude, I don't know, you're supposed to be the smart one," Percy said as he watched a couple of satyrs heading up the hill as well, the Satyrs seemed to suddenly stop as they got near us and looked at us, though it was really just me, with wide eyes, their nostrils trembling as though they had smelled something curious.

There seemed to be around a hundred campers, a few dozen satyrs, and a dozen sorted wood nymphs and some other type of nymphs who features seemed to ripple slightly, as though you were looking at a reflection in water.

At the pavilion, torches blazed around the marble columns, apparently the gods haven't discovered electricity. But I liked it like that, it seemed to make the place more cozy, more like home. A central fire burned in a bronze brazier the size of a bathtub. Each cabin had its own table, twelve in all. Four of the tables were empty, but Cabin Eleven's was way overcrowded. Percy had only half his butt on the bench while I had to stand.

Grover was sitting at table twelve with Mr. D, a few satyrs, and two plump blond boys who looked just like Mr. D. Remembering what Grover has said in Yancy, I wondered if those two were Pollux and Castor. Chiron stood to one side, seeing as the table wasn't high enough for the centaur.

Annabeth was sitting at table six with a bunch of serious looking athletic kids, all with her gray eyes and honey-blond hair. It was obvious that they were all siblings.

Clarisse was sitting behind us at Ares's table. She had seemed to have gotten over of being hosed down with sewer water, because she was laughing and belching right alongside her siblings.

"What a classy lady," I whispered to Percy who snickered when Clarisse belched loudly yet again.

Finally, Chiron pounded his hoof against the marble floor of the pavilion, and everybody fell silent at the sound. The only sound was a delayed belch from the Ares cabin, making everybody snicker. When there was true silence, Chiron raised his glass. "To the gods!"

Everybody else raised their glasses. "To the gods!"

Wood nymphs came forward with platter of food: grapes, apples, strawberries, cheese, fresh bread, barbeque, and peanut butter and jellies. My glass was empty as was Percy's but Luke leant over from the other side of the table. "Speak to it. Whatever you want –no alcohol, of course."

Percy spoke to his empty glass, "Cherry Coke." The glass suddenly filled with sparkling caramel liquid. Percy seemed to brighten as he thought of something. "_Blue_ Cherry Coke." The soda turned a violent shade of cobalt. Percy sipped it and sighed with content.

I looked at my empty class. "Dr. Pepper." Instantly the glass was filled to the brim with the delicious soda. I shot a grin at Percy. "Green Dr. Pepper." Instantly the soda turned dark green.

Percy and I then started a competition who could make the most creative and random soda. After our imagination had run dry Percy's coke was a cool mint with random orange streaks running through it while mine was bright purple with all kinds of polka dots of various shades of the rainbow.

Finally while we drank our colorful concoctions the food was finally brought to us on the end of the table, Percy loaded his plate with barbeque while I loaded mine with grilled cheese and a peanut butter and jelly sandwich. However before we could eat everyone suddenly stood up and carried their plates over to the fire. Then everyone started to drop food into the fire. The juiciest and meatiest piece of smoked brisket, the ripest and biggest strawberry, the crispiest slices of apple, the most buttered roll.

Luke murmured in our ears, "Burnt offerings for the gods. They like the smell."

"You're kidding," Percy whispered back.

Luke's look of warning made me realize that dumping food into the fire for the gods was not meant to be taken lightly, though it was a bit odd for a god to like the smell of burnt and charred food.

Luke approached the fire, bowed his head, and tossed in a cluster of ripe grapes. "Hermes."

Percy stumbled forward unsure what to do, he finally tossed in a slice of brisket, the smoke travelled near his nose, but he didn't gag instead he seemed to inhale the smoke as though it smelled something wonderful.

_Oh man please don't be like drugs, please don't be like drugs, please don't be like drugs,_ I silently prayed to whatever being listened to such thoughts. I was the last person to go forward, I stood there hesitantly but I dropped one of my grilled cheese into the fire. _To you dad, whoever you are. Please show me a sign, anything, please._

The smoke wafted towards my face, I inhaled on instinct, instead of gagging from the smell of smoke I smelled something wonderful. I smelled fresh fruit and wild flowers, I smelled wet grass and the smell that hung in the air that you knew instantly that it was going to rain soon. I smelled the first whiff of spring. A small breeze drifted through the pavilion. The nymphs and satyrs suddenly tensed as they smelled the breeze, their eyes wide and alert. From across the pavilion Mr. D paused from taking a sip from his Diet Coke can, he looked at me curiously with a raised brow.

I quickly hurried back to my seat, suddenly aware that the satyrs and nymphs were still staring at me, I ducked my head down but I could still feel their stares.

Everyone started to devour their food like a pack of hungry teenagers, well then again they _were_ a pack of hungry teenagers but still everyone seemed to have had seconds and thirds and still have their plate clean.

Once Chiron saw we were all done with our food he pounded the floor with his hoof again. We all went silent, this time there were no belches from the Ares cabin.

Mr. D got up with a huge sigh. "Yes, I suppose I'd better say hello to all you brats. Well, hello. Our activities director, Chiron, says the next Capture the Flag is Friday. Yay," he said sarcastically as he wiggled his fingers in mock celebration. "Cabin Five currently holds the laurels."

The ugly cheering and jeering behind us was so obvious on who it was I didn't even bother to turn around.

"Personally, I couldn't care less, but congratulations. Also, I should tell you that we have two new campers for this cesspool of a summer camp. Peter Johnson and Jeremy Trapper."

Chiron coughed into his fist and whispered something to the god of wine.

"Er, Percy Jackson and Jordan Hunter." Mr. D corrected himself. "That's right. Hurrah and all that jazz. Now go along to your stupid and silly campfire. Go on."

The campers all cheered despite the obvious buzz kill which was the god of wine. We all headed down towards the amphitheater, where the Apollo cabin led us in a sing-along. We sang camp songs about the gods and ate s'mores and joked around with one another. The best thing about this way that nobody seemed to be staring at me and Percy, for the first time in my life I felt like I was home.

After an hour so of sing-alongs and munching on s'mores the conch horn blew again, and we all filled back to our cabins. I instantly crashed into my sleeping bag. Luke had told me at dinner he had stolen some stuff for Percy and I. I was pretty touched even though he didn't acquire the items legally.

My first day of Camp Half-Blood was over. For once I could sleep peacefully without fear of anything creeping up on me. But of course I had no idea of how little time I would get to enjoy my new home.

**[][][][][][][][][][][][][][][][][][][][][][][][][] [][][][][][][][][][][][][][][][][][][][][][][][][] [][][][][][][][][][][]**

The next day Percy and I were handed schedules. For the entire day we would be going to different classes that taught different skills, hopefully we would find a skill we were good at, sometime this helped show who your immortal parent was.

In the mornings we would take Ancient Greek which was taught by Annabeth. I took the reading like a fish did to water, I had always loved reading despite my Dyslexia so finding out that the Greek Alphabet wouldn't have a little Harlem Shake when I tried to read it was great.

Percy had a bit more trouble than me, but after a couple of days of studying Ancient Greek we could all say a couple lines of Homer.

After the lesson we would spend the rest of the day going through different outdoor activities, both of us looking for something we were good at.

The first class we took was archery.

"Alright campers I would like to introduce Jordan and Percy, since they've just joined camp this will be their first archery lesson. So if they don't know what to do please don't tease them," Chiron told the campers in the Beginners Class, even though we were right next to him and were shuffling our feet in embarrassment. There were five kids in our class, two of them had the trademark blond hair that showed they were from the Apollo cabin, they were around the age of eleven and twelve.

Chiron then showed me and Percy how to hold a bow properly, how to grab the arrow from your quiver and knock it into your bow in one fluid motion. I managed to knock the arrow in on my second try, Percy on the other hand had somehow managed to get the tip of his bow on his quiver and was trying to pull it back but he kept stumbling from the force.

Chiron calmly trotted up to the poor boy and managed to untangle the bow from the quiver, Percy blushed slightly in embarrassment when the Apollo kids snickered.

There were seven traditional targets in front of each learning archer. The standard broad circle outlined with white, black, blue, red, and yellow. There was a small circle in the middle where the bulls eye was.

Soon enough the Apollo kids were getting arrows in the yellow and red, the others managed to hit either the red or blue. It was obvious that since their dad was the god of archery the Apollo kids had an upper hand for this.

"Remember, control your breathing. Don't breath too heavily or you'll ruin your aim. And Percy don't hold your bowstring so tightly! Your fingers are trembling from the effort, that could easily kill you in a fight," Chiron chastised the twelve year old.

I took a deep breath and pulled back the string, careful to not hold it too far back or too tightly, and locked my eyes onto the target. The area seemed to go silent as I slowed down my breath, I let go off the string and watched the arrow fly.

_Thwack!_

The arrow thudded into the line split between the blue and red. I looked at the arrow in surprise, I had never picked up a bow before but I had managed to hit the target, and near the middle too!

Chiron nodded when he saw my achievement, "hmm seems you may have what it takes to be an archer. Though you will have to practice more- PERCY!"

Percy's arrow had completely missed the target and instead embedded itself into a maple tree. A wood nymph suddenly appeared out of said true and called Percy some colorful names in Ancient Greek. Once she was done shrieking about other names I would rather not repeat without having my mouth washed out with soap, she stamped her foot on the ground with a huff and with a small _poof_ disappeared in a cloud of pollen.

"Sorry!" Percy called out to the angered tree nymph, the sound of someone blowing their tongue rang through the clearing.

We spent the rest of the hour shooting at the targets. I wasn't the best in the class, that title belonged to the Apollo campers, but at least I got some good shots. Percy on the other hand discovered that he was awful at archery. Chiron didn't complain even when he had to unsnag an arrow from his tail, luckily for the centaur it didn't pierce him, that would've hurt.

After our archery lesson Percy and I headed towards the docks where we would take a swimming and diving lesson. Apparently this wasn't like any other summer camp swimming class, from what I've heard you have to swim to one side of the lake and back without stopping. As you get older and stronger there is apparently a course where you have to fight monsters that have been set in the lake, I made a mental note to _never_ go into the deep end of the lake without Kevlar armor and a very sharp weapon.

Out of all of us Percy was the best swimmer. He took it like a fish to water, literally. While the rest of us were slightly lagging behind him, Percy was just cruising not even trying. He wasn't even slightly out of breath from the long swim. If anything he seemed even more hyper, seeing as he was bouncing on the balls of his feet while the rest of us wearily trudged our way out of the muddy lakeshore.

It seemed that everything Percy excelled at was anything that was in the water. Whether it was canoeing, Percy and I had a good laugh when we overturned Clarisse's canoe, though we quickly paddled our way out of the lake when Clarisse swam after us spewing death threats. Despite being a rather large girl that seemed to be made of muscle she was surprisingly very fast in the water. It probably didn't help that the Stoll brothers had magically brought forth a giant boom box and started to play the theme song from _Jaws_.

But for me my favorite class was learning how to grow plants. Percy had made fun of me for that until I reminded him that he was best at canoeing.

_Flashback _

Katie Gardner, the counselor of Demeter's cabin was teaching the class. We were currently in one of the dozen strawberry fields, around us satyrs were using their flutes and pipes to guide insects away from the fruit.

Apparently despite being a camp for the children of the gods, Camp Half Blood sold strawberries to mortal restaurants for money, looks like even immortals needed cash.

Thanks to Mr. D the strawberries always seemed to bloom faster, that along with the satyrs woodland magic as well as the efforts of the Demeter cabin, the strawberries were in perfect shape.

"Most of you won't be able to do this, its more of a born skill than one that could be learned." Katie explained to us, "but if any of you have been born with the power to control plants than it will aid you both in and outside of battle. It is a power that defines and even controls nature itself, though most of us can only bring life to smaller plants or make plants bigger if we haven't been trained enough. But if you practice enough you could do this," Katie waved her hand and slowly a plant started to poke its head out of the ground. It was like watching a time lapse movie, the plant soon turned into a bush which then started to have blackberries grow on it. Soon enough we were looking at a full sized blackberry bush.

"Now all of you will try it, but we're going to start out small since none of you guys have done this before," she then gestured towards a row of tulips that were slowly dying, their stems were lowering and the petals slowly falling off. "You will each try to bring back the life to a tulip." Katie then started to explain how to bring forth the power of nature and so on.

I raised my hand, Katie saw it and nodded her head in my direction. "Uhmm, I've noticed that all the satyrs use flutes or pipes to use woodland magic, I have a flute. Can I use it?" I didn't add in the fact that my father had left it for me since some of the kids were undetermined and I didn't want to mock them by showing off a gift from my immortal father, whoever he was.

Katie seemed to ponder my question. "I guess… I don't know if half bloods can use pipes for this but you can try."

I nodded. "Okay!"

Then Katie assigned us to our flowers, we were spread out across the clearing so we would have enough space. Most of the kids who weren't children of Demeter stood their awkwardly and just stared at their flowers. One of them was staring at it so hard with a look of intense concentration I though he had to pee.

I stood there and fiddled with my pipes. Finally I shrugged and tried to do what Katie had instructed us to do. I closed my eyes and breathed deeply, I reached out with both my mind and soul and I could feel it. A force so great, a force that could destroy entire cities. But despite its power it was also gentle, it was beautiful. I could feel the power of nature coursing through me, urging me to release its power into the world. I felt myself bring the pipe to my lips and I softly blew into it. A melody I had never heard before started to fill the clearing. It was defined yet rustic, a sound that seemed to seep into my heart and body, filling me with strength. It was elegant yet also simple, calming yet terrifying. It was as though nature itself was being released into the word via my flutes.

"Jordan!" Katie's surprised yell jerked me out of whatever trance I had fallen into. My eyes snapped open and I beheld the scene around me. My tulip had grown so much that the very plant itself was now as tall as me, its yellow petals like a miniature sun, and casting a shadow on me. Glancing around I saw all the other flowers rapidly growing, though judging how people were backing up they weren't the cause. All around me random flowers were springing up, the strawberries seemed to swell until each one was easily the size of a baseball.

I then realized something. _I _was doing this.

I quickly tried to cancel the flow of power that was coursing through me, it was like trying to close a hatch against rushing water. It was near impossible, but somehow I managed to shut it off. Immediately the flowers and plants stopped growing, but the power of nature seemed to cling in the air.

Katie and the others were staring at me in shock. "What?" I asked nervously.

"Y-You just," Katie stuttered as she looked at the aftermath of the lesson with boggled eyes. "This should be impossible, not even I can do this and I'm the best half blood to create and summon plants. How did you…?" she trailed off.

I suddenly felt very self-conscious. It did not help that suddenly a dozen satyrs had appeared and was staring at my plants with shocked eyes. Their eyes were burning into me, shock at what I had done, wonder at what I had created.

"Uhm… beginners luck?" I asked weakly.

Katie merely stared at me with wonder, as though wondering what I could accomplish if I mastered the skill. No doubt it'd be a boon. But it could also end badly if I lost control and turned the entire camp into a jungle.

"Class dismissed." Katie finally said.

I quickly left the clearing, Percy following me.

"Dude, that was awesome!" Percy said to me as he tossed me something big and red, I saw that it was one of the softball-sized strawberries. Percy had another one and was eating the delectable fruit.

"So how'd you do it?" Percy asked me curiously as we sat down on a marble bench.

I shook my head. "I don't know, maybe its cause of my dad."

"Who do you think he is?" Percy asked, as he looked at me with curiosity in his sea green eyes.

"I think maybe Apollo. I mean I'm not the best archer in the world but I'm was better than you, no offense but you nearly killed a tree." I told to the boy who blushed in embarrassment. "That's the only god I'm sure of. Think about it, he's the god of the sun, maybe I got some nature powers from him because of it. Not to mention that I use my pipes, and Apollo is the god of music."

Percy nodded. "Yeah I think you're right. I'm still not sure on who my dad is. I suck at everything, Luke thinks I'm a son of Hermes. A jack of all trades type of guy, someone who can't master any skills."

"That's no true. You're the best at swimming and anything that revolves around water." I told the boy who looked at me graciously, no doubt he was happy that at least someone reminded him he wasn't a complete and total loser.

"Have you seen Grover at all?" I asked Percy.

Percy shook his head. "No. I haven't talked to him since we got here yesterday."

Man, had it really been yesterday morning when I had woken up from our fight on Half-Blood Hill? I felt as though ages had passed, not a mere 24 hours.

"You think he's okay?" Percy asked me.

"I hope so. Sure Mr. D is a bit of a jerk," all of a sudden the air around us smelled slightly of wine and grapes, "uh, no offense." I quickly added, the smell disappeared but we could still smell a small trace of it in the air. "But I don't think he would of done anything really bad, maybe he's talking to this council of…. What was it, uh Cloven Elders?"

Percy shrugged, not really knowing the answer either. "They can't be that bad. I mean come on, 'Cloven Elders'? They don't sound that intimidating."

"Percy!"

The two of us looked behind us to see Annabeth jogging towards us, judging from the look on her face she didn't seem to be exactly pleased.

"Uhhh, hey Annabeth. What's up?" Percy tried to say casually but seeing his whole body tense up ruined the foolish endeavor as he tried to not shrink and crawl into a deep and dark hole due to the piercing glare of one Annabeth Chase.

"You two realize that you have to go to class right? You can't just drop everything and gossip like old women, and Percy you are supposed to be learning more Ancient Greek with me." Annabeth told the two undetermined sons, Percy groaned but stood up and followed her to the lake.

"Great, now I'm all alone…" I mumbled, I decided that I should head back towards the Hermes cabin, seeing as I didn't have any classes for another hour and a half.

As I got to the twelve cabins I saw a familiar face near the fire. Happy that I saw her again I headed over to the fire.

"Hey Tia!" I called out to her.

Tia looked up in surprise and even a bit of shock as she watched me walk over to her. "Jordan…" she murmured as I sat down next to her.

"I'm surprised, you came to see me again, few people choose to do so." Tia stated as she looked at me with an unreadable expression.

"Well I'm guess I'm the exception," I joked to her. Tia smiled lightly and I felt really happy.

"So how is your first full day at Camp Half-Blood working out for you?" Tia asked me, her chocolate brown eyes looking curious.

I shrugged. "Shot some targets, watched Percy get yelled at by a tree, ate some lunch, and I think I scared the crap out of Katie and some of the nature spirits and satyrs."

"Oh?" Tia tilted her head to the side slightly, I then explained what had happened at the lesson. Tia looked thoughtful and studied me as though she was looking at me in an entirely new light. "You're interesting, Jordan Hunter." Tia said simply as she continued to study me.

I shifted uncomfortably, while Tia was just a little girl, something about her eyes made me think different. They reminded me of Chiron's soul searching gaze, though slightly warmer and more affectionate. I was _really_ hoping this little girl wouldn't magically turn into a full-grown centaur. Though since she was a kid, maybe she turned into a half-human half pony, could centaurs even _have_ kids?

"You seem tense," Tia noted as she looked at me curiously. "What's wrong?"

I laughed, but it seemed a bit bitter. "I honestly don't know. This place, these people, you…" I clutched my head in frustration. "I just don't understand! Why am I here? Cause I'm some god's kid? I don't feel anything like a god or godling, I just feel normal. I am normal, a couple of days ago if you told me about this world, I would have honestly laughed in your face." I stared at the burning embers, wishing that for once in my life I would have an actual answer. Not a half truth, no lies, just the plain honest truth.

I flinched slightly when I felt Tia's small petite hand touch my shoulder in comfort. I don't know how she did it, but I started to slowly calm down. "Do not be afraid to accept what you are, Jordan." Tia said softly. "You _are_ a half-blood, a child of one of the Olympians. You are half human and half god, while you think you are just a normal human I beg to differ. There is something about you that is different, even compared to your friend Percy, some power lying dormant within you, waiting to be found, waiting to be unleashed." Tia gestured towards Camp Half-blood, I saw campers mock fighting with swords, spears, and any type of weapon. I saw satyrs playing their flutes, lines of bugs marching away from the crops in some sort of tempo. "This is your life now, this is your home. All these campers, they are your family. Your cousins, maybe even siblings depending on whoever your father is. I want you to remember something Jordan, if you are even in this state of mind. You are not alone. You have friends, and now you have a family." Tia smiled warmly, dimples appearing on her cheeks, "and if you haven't noticed, we take care of our own."

"Unless you pissed off Clarisse." I muttered remembering quite clearing the daughter of War's death threats.

Tia laughed, which immediately got rid of any ill feelings about my fate. "Unless you pissed off Clarisse." Tia agreed, her brown eyes filled with mirth.

"Hey Tia…." Tia looked at me curiously. "Whose your godly parent?" I asked curiously, seeing as I didn't see her in the Hermes cabin.

I knew immediately I had overstepped some line, Tia's eyes seemed to harden, making her warm chocolate eyes seem like dark pits. "No one important," Tia said brusquely. "Just a minor god you probably haven't heard of."

"Oh…." Dear god –or was it gods?- I was awful with awkward situations. I fiddled with my hands, trying to think of a good change of subject. "So…. What's your favorite color?" _Wow…. Good job Jordan._

"Orange." Tia said with a smile, "What about you?"

"Green." I said instantly. "Dark green."

Tia laughed. "Is it because of your love for nature?" she asked amused.

I grinned. "Yep." I gazed out into the vast forest surrounding us. "The forest is my favorite thing about this place, it's so peaceful. Though I have a feeling it won't last for much longer."

Once again I was right, but I wouldn't find out until later.

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Two days after the incident with Katie's class and my talk with Tia. Percy and I were finally having our first sword lesson. Luke was going to be our teacher.

Amazing would be an understatement when describing Luke's skill with a blade. I saw him decimate a straw dummy in the matter of five seconds, with its hay guts strewn everywhere and no longer having a bucket head. Even by a half-bloods skills, Luke was a prodigy, according to many of the campers there hasn't been a

swordsman as great as Luke in over three hundred years.

The entire Hermes cabin had gathered in the large circular arena where sword fighting practices as well as many mock battles took place. Luke started us out with simple instructions. We had both been given swords from the Hephaestus cabin, though Percy and I just couldn't find a sword that would fit us. It was either too light it was off balance or too heavy to swing.

Luke had tried to find us blades that would go with us, but with little success. So we were stuck with other blades until we found the right one. After half an hour of hacking straw Greek warriors Luke announced we were going to duel in pairs. Luke also decided he would be Percy's partner, while I would fight him later since we were new.

"Good luck," one of the campers told us. "Luke's the best swordsman in the last three hundred years."

"Maybe he'll go easy on us." Percy said.

The camper snorted in disbelief.

Luke showed Percy thrusts and parries and shield blocks the hard way. Meaning whacking him with the flat side of his blade, I winced every time Luke struck hard, while it was only the flat side that did not look comfortable. No doubt Percy was going to become one bruise soon.

"Keep your guard up, Percy," Luke would say, before whapping him in the ribs. "No, not that far up!" _Whap!_ "Lunge!" _Whap!_ "Now, back!" _Whap!_

By the time Luke called for a break, Percy was drenched in sweat, bruises already forming on his arms. We all swarmed the drinks cooler, Luke poured ice water on his head. Percy seemed to think that was a good idea and followed his example. The second the water hit him, Percy seemed to look better, maybe even stronger.

"Okay, everyone circle up!" Luke ordered as everyone gathered around him. "If Percy doesn't mind, I want to give you a little demo."

Percy didn't look exactly happy to continue being Luke's punching bag, but he didn't say anything. The other Hermes kids were obviously trying to hold back smiles, no doubt they had been in Percy's shoes when they had first started and couldn't wait to see someone else become Luke's personal punching bag.

Luke was going to show us a disarming technique: how to twist the enemy's blade with the flat of your own sword so that he had no choice but to drop his weapon, which meant you killed easily take him out.

"This is a difficult technique," he stressed. "I've had it used against me. No laughing at Percy, now. Most swordsmen have to work years to master this technique."

_Jeez, what is this. Beat up the new kids class?_ I thought sarcastically.

Luke demonstrated the move on Percy in slow motion, sure enough Luke managed to pull it off and Percy's sword fell out of his hand and into the sand. Once Percy had retrieved his weapon Luke spoke again. "Now for real. We keep sparing until one of us pulls it off. Ready, Percy?" Percy nodded.

Luke rushed forward. I knew the Hermes kids were waiting for Luke to completely decimate the undetermined but somehow Percy managed to not have Luke knock his sword away. Percy countered before trying a thrust, which Luke deflected easily. Luke started to press Percy with more force than before. Percy knew he was going to lose and I saw him do the disarming technique.

Percy's blade hit the base of Luke's sword and he twisted, putting his entire weight into a downward thrust. _Clang!_ Luke's sword rattled against the stones. Percy's tip of his blade was an inch from his undefended chest.

The other campers were silent in disbelief. I clapped enthusiastically. "Alright! Go Percy!"

Percy looked embarrassed, Luke on the other hand looked stunned. "Um, sorry." Percy said sheepishly.

"Sorry?" Luke's scarred face broke into a grin. "By the gods, Percy, why are you sorry? Show me that again!"

The next time they fought there was no contest, Luke disarmed Percy easily. After a long pause one of the campers said, "Beginner's luck?"

Luke whipped the sweat off his brow. He appraised Percy with entirely new interest, as though he had just changed Luke's entire view of him for the better. Maybe, but I wonder what Percy could do with a balanced sword."

Soon after that was said Luke told everyone that the lesson was over and to get into the showers since dinner was going to be soon.

"Dude, that was awesome!" I clapped Percy on the back as we walked back to cabin 11. "You disarmed him, and he's like good, like really good. How'd you do that?" I asked curiously.

Percy shrugged. "I don't know. When we were fighting I just felt a burst of energy, like when we fought the Minotaur, I had instinct and the next thing I know I disarmed him."

"Still that was really cool, shame we don't have balanced swords." I pondered, "man we would be awesome if we did. Eh, guess we just have to wait until we find it."

We quickly took our showers just as the conch horn sounded throughout the camp, we trudged up the hill with the undetermined and the children of Hermes, the food was awesome and Mr. D boredly said that the Canoe Races were cancelled due to someone destroying some of the canoes.

Percy and I glanced at one another before shooting a look Clarisse who was glaring at them from across the pavilion. "Yeah, she does _not_ like us." I muttered under my breath.

We heard a laugh next to us and saw that it was Travis Stoll, his eyes alight with mischief. "Aw don't feel special, Clarisse hates everybody whose a newbie, especially when said newbies drenched her in sewage water." He winked at us, "I still think the gods should have the _Jaws_ theme play whenever she walks toward someone. But alas they have not answered my prayers."

Percy and I laughed at that, Travis chuckled as well before stealing Percy's roll when he wasn't looking. Travis grinned slyly at me, I grinned back and decided not to inform Percy of his missing food.

**Sorry bout the long update, hope this long chapter helped. Anyone know who 'Tia' is? I gotta admit now I'm thinking of her being the pairing, but I don't know yet, maybe I'll have a poll. Also I'm curious to know how you guy's think of my writing in first person (first time using it, I usually use third person) I'm a bit of a perfectionist so I don't think its that good but I try.**

**Next chapter: Determined**


	7. Determined

It was Friday afternoon, Percy, Grover and I were chilling by the lakeshore. This would have looked normal any normal person walking by, had they not noticed the fact that Grover lower body was half goat and me and Percy's shirts were riddled with burnt holes, some of them still smoking.

Grover had introduced us to the rock climbing wall the camp had, with a couple of added features you wouldn't find at your normal public gym. Mainly lava, booby traps, falling rocks and iron balls the size of watermelons, and sometime the whole thing would shake and shudder as though there was an earthquake. Grover, being half goat had its perks, easily scampered up the wall while Percy and I nearly burned to death by lava.

The three of us sat on the wooden pier, watching the naiads do underwater basket-weaving. Percy decided to say what was on everyone's mind.

"How did your conversation with Mr. D go?" he asked our best friend who had suddenly turned a sickly green.

"Fine," Grover said quickly. "Just great."

I shook my head. "Okay, remind me later to get you some acting lessons. 'Cause you are a really bad liar Grover." I said truthfully.

Grover suddenly seemed interested in the wood pattern of the pier. "Is your career still on track at least?" I asked with concern for my friend.

Grover looked at us sharply in surprise and nervousness. "C-Chiron t-told you two that I want a searcher's license?"

"Nope, you just did." I wondered briefly what a searcher's license was, but judging the look on Grover's face, who looking really upset, I decided not to ask just yet. "You did bring us to camp, surely Mr. D had to cut you some slack, right?"

Grover merely continued to look at the wooden pattern, a shaky finger trailing the pattern. "Mr. D suspended judgment. He said I hadn't failed or succeeded with you two yet, so our fates are still tied together. If one of you get a quest and I went along to protect you and we both come back alive, then maybe he'll consider the job complete."

I grinned. "Well that's not so bad, lets just get a quest!" I said enthusiastically and wondered the possibilities of the quest, maybe it was something like the old heroes did? Or maybe as times changed so did the quests, my heart sunk when I started to wonder if I had a gotten a quest only to find out I had to get a god's dry cleaning, man that would suck.

Grover snorted, "getting a quest is not easy, not anymore. The chances of you two getting a quest, especially since you're the new blood... and even if one of you did get a quest, why would even want _me_ to tag along?"

"Grover," I said angrily. "Of course you would come with us. You're our best friend! You've helped us, and if having a quest will help you get this license, we'll be glad to bring you along!"

Grover looked glumly into the water. "Basket-weaving… must be nice to have a useful skill."

"Hey come on! You have lots of awesome skills! I've never seen anyone play such a great _Baby Come Back_ on the flutes!" I encouraged him while Percy was quick to join me in cheering up our friend.

"Yeah, not to mention how fast you fan run. I've never seen any man, woman, or other being run as fast as you can when the school cafeteria had enchiladas." Percy added in.

"Stop it guys," Grover protested but anyone could tell that he was feeling better.

I grinned and slapped Grover on the shoulder. It was nice being able to hang out with just Percy and Grover, kinda felt like old times. Even with all the crazy things that had happened to us, it was still nice to have something familiar.

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That night after dinner, there was much more excitement among the campers than usual. The reason that would make a whole bunch of ADHD demigods even more hyper and jumpy?

Tonight was Capture the Flag.

The second the last piece of brisket was consumed and everyone had drunk enough sugary sodas that would give a bull elephant a heart attack and kidney failure, the nature spirits carried away the plates as conch horns sounded and everyone stood up around their tables.

Campers yelled and cheered as Annabeth and two of her siblings ran into the pavilion carrying a silk banner. It was about ten feet long, glistening gray, with a painting of a barn owl above an olive tree. The symbols of Athena, goddess of Wisdom.

From the opposite side of the pavilion, Clarisse and her buddies ran in with another banner, of identical size, but a gaudy red that looked to much like blood in my opinion, painted with a bloody spear and a boar's head. The symbols of Ares, god of War.

Percy turned towards Luke. "Those are the flags?" he asked over the roar of the crowed.

"Yeah."

"Do Ares and Athena always lead the teams?" I asked, more liked yelled, to the son of Hermes.

"Not always," Luke admitted. "But often."

"So what happens when someone gets the flag?" I asked. "Do we paint it or something?"

Luke gave us a sly grin, as if he knew something we didn't and found it amusing. The scar made him look almost evil in the torchlight. "We've made a truce with Athena. Tonight, we get the flag from the Ares cabin. And you two are going to help."

_Why do I have such a bad feeling about this?_ I wondered, not really liking Luke's tone. He knew something we didn't and he didn't seem inclined to tell us.

The teams were soon announced. Athena had made an alliance with Apollo and Hermes, the two biggest cabins in the camp. According to Luke, privileges had been traded- shower times, chore schedules, the best slots for activities- in order to win their support.

Ares had allied themselves with everybody else. Dionysus, Demeter, Aphrodite, and Hephaestus. From what I had seen, Dionysus's kids were surprisingly very good athletes (not like their father, who was a bit of a slob), but luckily there were only two of them. Demeter's kids had the edge with nature skills and outdoor stuff. Luke had been adamant on insisting that I also had that edge, apparently word spread like wild fire about my nature class. Luckily the Demeter kids weren't very aggressive. Aphrodite's sons and daughter I was not worried about at all. They were the kids that didn't do any classes and instead opted to sit in their own little clichés by the lakeshore and gossip. The children of Hephaestus weren't the most handsome and beautiful of the bunch, but they were big and burly from working in the forge the entire day. Those were the kids I was worried about. Then, of course, there was the Ares cabin. A dozen of the biggest, ugliest, meanest kids on Long Island, I'd even bet my money that they were the worst on the whole planet.

Chiron stamped his hoof on the marble, gaining everybody's attention. "Heroes!" the centaur cried. "You all know the rules. The creek acts as the boundary line. The entire forest is fair game. All magic items are allowed. The banner must be prominently displayed for all to see and there can only be two guards. Prisoners may be disarmed, but they are _not_ to be killed nor maimed, I doubt that Mr. D will be happy about having to file out the paperwork if a camper was killed."

Mr. D glared at the campers broodily as he sipped his Diet Coke. Everyone edged away from the god of wine, nobody wanted to get turn into grape juice.

"I will serve as referee and battlefield medic. Arm yourselves!" Chiron announced and with a wave of his hand the tables were covered with equipment: helmets, bronze swords and daggers, spears, ox hide shields coated in metal.

"Woah," Percy said in shock. "We're really supposed to use those?"

"Awesome!" I said happily. "I love summer camp!". _I gotta feel bad for normal people, this is so cooler than normal capture the flag… unless I get stabbed, okay note to self, don't get stabbed._ I thought.

"Percy, unless you would like to become the stabbing bag to Clarisse and her buddies, I suggest arming yourselves." Luke stated as he grabbed two shields and walked back over to us.

"Here, Chiron thought that these may fit you two." He handed us each a shield and it took all my strength to not have the shield crush my foot. The whole thing was made of tanned ox hide and gleaming bronze, which made it good for protection but I felt like I was carrying a million pounds. We were also given bronze helmets with blue plumes on the top. Ares and their allies had red plumes.

"You two will be on border patrol." Luke advised us.

"Blue team, forward!" Annabeth yelled.

The blue team cheered as we followed the daughter of Athena down the path to the south woods. The red team yelled taunts and jeers at us as they headed off toward the north.

I nudged Percy in the shoulder and pointed at Annabeth who had been trailing in front of us. We quickly walked up to her.

"Hey, Annabeth!" I greeted with a small wave, careful not to whack Percy in the head with my shield.

Annabeth smiled slightly as she saw us. "Hey Jordan, hey Percy." She continued to march towards our territory.

"So what's the plan?" Percy asked, "got any magic items you can loan me?"

I mentally faced palmed at the question as Annabeth's hand drifted towards her pocket as though she was afraid Percy had gone all Hermes cabin and stolen something.

"Don't mind him, he's horribly tactless." I explained patiently, "probably dropped on his head as a child." I dodged Percy's elbow with a grin.

"Watch out for Clarisse's spear," Annabeth warned us. "You do _not_ want that thing to touch you. Otherwise, don't worry. We'll take the banner from Ares. Has Luke given you your jobs?"

"Yeah, something about border patrol."

"It's easy, stand by the creek. Keep the reds away. Leave the rest to me. Athena always has a plan." Annabeth told us before marching away from us.

"Still trying to figure out if she likes us, or she's annoyed of us. Oh who am I kidding, I think she's more annoyed about you Perce, she loves me." I muttered to the undetermined with a grin.

Percy glared at me before cracking a small grin, "come on. Don't want to mess up Athena's plan."

I have to admit standing there alone in the woods at night with nobody other than Percy, with my feathered helm and my giant bronze shield, I felt like a complete idiot as did Percy.

I glanced around trying to see through the darkness, the only light source was the moon and the winking fireflies that seemed to float everywhere. We were stationed at a small creek that gurgled as it headed in the direction of the lake.

"You don't think we're going to get attack, right?" Percy suddenly asked. "I mean, Olympus must have liability issues, right?"

"How am I supposed to know? I'm not an immortal lawyer." I replied with a shrug.

"Like, do you think it's frowned upon if you beat up and nearly murder the new kids on their first game of Capture the Flag?" Percy pressed on.

"Percy," I sighed as I looked at the dark-haired boy, "you are really, really, _really,_ not helping my nerves right now… just thought I'd let you know."

The conch horn blew, whoops and yells echoed in the woods, the clanking of metal, kids fighting. A blue-plumed ally from Apollo raced past us like a deer, leaped through the creek, and disappeared into enemy territory.

Suddenly I stiffened as the hairs on the back of my neck rose as I heard a low growl coming somewhere behind us. Percy raised his shield instinctively while I glanced behind us, looking for any danger.

"You think there are any bears in these woods?" Percy asked me warily.

"That didn't sound like a bear, it sounded like some sort of dog. A really big dog."

The growling had stopped by then and I somehow knew that whatever was watching us was gone, but I wasn't sure if the thing was gone for good.

"Uh, do you remember Chiron saying that there were monsters in these woods?" I asked.

Percy paled as he understood what I meant.

On the other side of the creek, the underbrush exploded as five Ares warriors came yelling and screaming war cries out of the darkness of the trees.

"Cream those punks!" Clarisse screamed as she pointed at our frozen forms. Her eyes glared at us through the slits of her helmet ,which glowed eerily in the moonlight.

Clarisse was brandishing a five-foot long spear, barbed metal tip flickered with red light. Her siblings only had the standard issue bronze swords, but that didn't exactly reassure me.

As soon as they appeared I was quick to realize they had completely surrounded us. I was back to back with Percy, my sword feeling heavy and off balanced as I tried to think a way out of this without Percy and I either dying or being maimed.

One of the siblings swung their sword at me, my instincts screamed at me to move and I managed to duck under the deadly blade, I quickly swung my sword at the child of Ares but he managed to block it off with ease, all the while chuckling grimly as though he thought that we had no chance.

_We don't have a chance._ That little voice in the back of my head whispered. _That's half the Ares cabin, they've been fighting for years, their dad is the god of war and battles itself._

_Shut up brain._ I thought to myself.

Behind me I heard Percy gasped in pain. Like a idiot I looked behind me to make sure my best friend was still alive, which of course let the other Ares kids disarm me and kick me to the ground, before I knew it my face was being shoved into the dirt with the Ares kids meaty hands holding me down.

"Electric…" I heard Percy mutter besides me as the other Ares kids held him down. "Her spear is electric."

"_Watch out for Clarisse's spear," Annabeth had warned us. "You do not want that thing to touch you."_

_She couldn't have mentioned that Clarisse's spear had a little kick to it?_ I groaned out as I felt my ribs ready to implode due to having the heavy Ares kids holding me down. _Honestly we could've known that earlier._

The only good thing about the situation was that Clarisse and the others hadn't tried to kill us or continue to beat us up, and only because they were to busy laughing their asses off.

"Hey, Clarisse," one of the sons of Ares said to his half-sister. "Why don't we give these dweebs a haircut?" he asked with a wide grin.

Clarisse smirked. "Great idea, Jimmy." She turned to her other half-siblings. "Well? You heard him? Lets give these losers a haircut!"

The Ares kids roared and hooted in approval. I tried to rip my way out of their iron tight grasp, but man were those kids strong. My hand trailed up to my neck, I could feel my pipes underneath my shirt… if I could just get it to my lips…

Percy seemed to have the same idea as me, though he was instead reaching for his unbalanced sword. But Clarisse whacked him in the arm with her spear, sparks flew violently, and Percy's arm fell to his side as limp as the other one.

"Oh wow, I'm _sooo_ scared of this guy." Clarisse smirked as she looked at Percy. "So scary."

"Stop it!" I yelled angrily at the daughter of Ares, "leave him alone! The flag is that way!" I gestured my hand in the direction where the blue flag rested.

"We know that, new blood." One of her siblings sneered at me. "You see, we don't care about the flag. We care about the two new guys who our whole cabin look stupid."

"You do that without our help!" Percy told them.

I groaned, "Percy, not helping the situation."

Two of the attackers came at Percy, who managed to back into the creek and raised his shield, but Clarisse was too fast and her spear went straight into his ribs. Had Percy not been wearing the thick armored chest plate I would have just seen my best friend turn into a roasted human sheesh-kebab.

To make things worse, one of her siblings came forward and slashed his sword at Percy. I saw the cut, while not life threatening it was still a large cut, blood started to ooze out of it.

I saw red, I could faintly feel myself trembling in rage. No one seemed to notice that the wind had suddenly started to pick up, or how the grass seemed to tremble and the trees started to shake.

"No maiming," Percy protested as he started to turn green at the sight of his blood.

"Oops," the guy who had cut him said. "Guess I just lost my dessert privilege." The boy then kicked Percy into the creek with a splash. All the attackers howled in laughter as they watched Percy flounder a bit in the rushing water. For one wild second I thought I saw Percy looked energized, but I wasn't paying attention.

Something overcame me as my rage took hold. With a roar of my own I managed to rip my way out the grips of the person holding me back, who was too surprised to do anything.

The power flowing through me was not like anything I had felt before, it was like when I had channeled nature through me, but this time it was calmer, more controlled.

One of the kids, Jimmy I remembered faintly, stepped in front of my way. I shoved him and he fell to the ground and slid back several feet through the creek before hitting his head on a rock and passing out.

I faintly noticed Percy had gotten up and was easily taken care of two Ares kids, it was as though a switch had gone off in both of us, we were suddenly the ones with the power.

Another goon rushed towards me, his sword ready to hack me to pieces, but I managed to duck and grabbed his elbow, I then pulled down as I turned my back to my opponent, using both my strength and my enemies weight I flipped the boy over my shoulder and slammed him into the ground. The boy groaned in pain as he laid there motionless.

I rushed towards Clarisse, who was smart enough to not rush in like her less intelligent siblings, she thrust her spear forward in hopes of electrocuting me, but I was smart enough to jump out of the way.

I could easily hear the spear crackle with electricity as it came near an inch or so by my ear. The power that was giving me the strength and speed seemed to keep coming, I felt something tug my stomach, my skin itched as though a bunch of ants were crawling up my skin.

I smacked the middle of the spear that wasn't full of crackling electricity.

_SNAP!_

Both Clarisse and I were shocked to see her spear cut cleanly in half. Clarisse's face turned a murderous red, "You! You idiot, you corpse-breath worm!" she cried as she swung the blunt piece of the rod in an attempt to murder me with a blunt object.

I swung my fist at her chest, hoping to knock her back like she had done to Percy, surprisingly it worked. Clarisse fell to the ground, well more like into the creek. As she struggled to get up I noticed something that made my mouth dry.

On her chest armor, there was no normal flattened bronze armor, it looked as though some rabid animal had slashed at her with razor sharp claws.

I noticed in the corner of my eye that Percy had finished taking out the other children of Ares who were currently in a pile unconscious. Then I heard yelling, elated screams of triumph, and then I saw Luke racing toward the boundary line with the red team's banner lifted high in the air. He was being flanked by a couple of Hermes guys covering his retreat, and a few Apollo kids right behind them, who were currently fighting of the Hephaestus kids.

Clarisse realized what was happening and struggled to get up, "a trick…" she muttered still dazed. "It was a trick!"

She tried to stagger after Luke but it was too late. Everybody converged on the creek as Luke ran across into friendly territory. Our side exploded into cheers. The red banner shimmered and turned to silver. The boar and spear were replaced with a huge caduceus, the symbol of Cabin Eleven.

Everybody on the blue team swarmed Luke and gave the son of Hermes claps on the back before lifting him on their shoulders. Chiron cantered out from the woods and blew the conch horn, signaling that Capture the Flag was over.

The game was over. We won.

I was ready to either sink to my knees and take a well deserved nap or join in on the celebration. Before I could decide I heard Annabeth's voice right next to me and Percy. "Not bad, heroes."

I looked around and saw that she was nowhere to be seen. "Annabeth, I swear to all that is holy that if you were a ghost this entire time I'm afraid we may have to reevaluate our relationship." I told her, wherever she was.

Suddenly the air shimmered, and Annabeth seemingly materialized out of thin air. She was holding a Yankees baseball cap as if she had just taken it off of her head.

She shot me an annoyed look before turning towards Percy. "Is he always like this?" she questioned the boy.

Percy grinned. "Oh, you have no idea."

"Well," I sniffed in mock hurt, "why are you guys saying bad things behind my back. Wow, and here I was thinking we were all friends. Mnm mnm, no more! This guy is riding solo!" I declared.

"What about Grover?" Percy asked amused.

I huffed, "fine, I'm riding solo plus one Grover. Happy?"

Annabeth and Percy burst into laughter at my expression. I smirked internally,_ oh yeah I can so see those two getting together in the future. Time to play a little match maker._ I thought deviously.

Percy suddenly gasped and clutched his arm in pain, I remembered his bad cut. "How did you get that?" Annabeth asked.

"Sword cut," Percy said through gritted teeth. "What did you think it was?"

"No," I said as I looked at the wound in disbelief. "It _was_ a sword cut." I pointed at his arm, "look at it."

The blood was gone, where the huge cut had been, there was a long white scratch, and even that was fading. As I watched, it turned into a small scar, and then it disappeared.

"I-I don't get it," Percy stuttered out as he stared at his arm as though it was some sort of alien appendage.

Annabeth was thinking hard. I could almost see those gears turning in her head, she looked down at Percy's feet, who, I was quick to realize, was still in the creek.

"Step out of the water, Percy." Annabeth said as she looked at the boy with a calculating stare.

"What-"

Percy looked at me as though for advice. I nodded, "come on man, just listen to her." I encouraged him.

Percy took a tentative step out of the water and nearly collapsed had I not caught him in time and helped him to his feet.

"Oh Styx," I heard Annabeth curse. "This is _not_ good. I didn't want… I assumed it would be Zeus…"

Before anyone could asked her exactly what she meant, I heard the canine growl again but much, much closer than before. A howl ripped through the forest.

The campers' cheering died instantly. Chiron shouted something in Ancient Greek, which I would realize, only later, I had understood it perfectly. _"Stand ready! My bow!"_

Annabeth drew her sword, I quickly grabbed mine from the forest floor.

There on the rocks just above us was a black hound the size of a rhino, with lava-red eyes and fangs like daggers.

It was looking right at Percy.

"Percy, run!" Annabeth yelled.

Annabeth and I immediately tried to step in front of him, but the hound was too fast. It leapt over us and headed towards Percy who was lucky enough to have stumbled backwards and thus avoided being turned into kibble. I winced as my ears heard the sound of screeching metal being ripped apart by razor sharp teeth.

Then there was the twang of a bow, and multiple arrows found its way into the hounds neck, it dropped to the ground dead.

By some miracle Percy wasn't dead but I couldn't help but feel woozy when I saw the blood coming out of his chest thanks to the hounds sharp claws. Chiron trotted up to us with a bow in hand and his face grim.

"_Di immortales!"_ Annabeth exclaimed. "That's a hellhound from the fields of Punishment. The don't… they're not supposed to…"

"Someone summoned it," Chiron said. "Someone inside the camp."

Luke came over, the banner in his hand forgotten, his moment of glory gone.

Clarisse yelled, "It's all Percy and Jordan's fault! They summoned it!"

"Be quiet, child," Chiron told her.

All the campers watched the body of the hellhound melt into shadow, soaking into the ground until it was no more.

"Percy, you're wounded." Annabeth said as she looked at the wound on Percy's chest. "Quick, get in the water."

"I'm okay," Percy argued.

"Dude you nearly got into dog kibble by a beast of hell, you are not okay!" I said to my friend in concern. "Did that hellhound hit your head or something?"

"Chiron, watch this." Annabeth said.

Percy looked too tired to argue and instead stepped back into the water, his healing wounds were suddenly exhilarated by ten, soon enough he was completely fine. But then a light flickered above his head, everyone gasped.

I could make out what appeared to be a green trident glowing above Percy's head. _Wait, trident…. No way…_ I thought in disbelief as I realized who Percy's dad was.

Percy didn't seem to understand why people were staring at him, he hadn't seen the symbol yet. He started to apologize.

"Dude, look up." I told him.

Percy glanced up and only had about a second to make out the shape before the light disappeared.

"You're father," Annabeth muttered. "This is _really_ not good."

"It is determined," Chiron announced.

All around, campers started to kneel to Percy, even the Ares kids (thought they didn't look to happy about it) I followed the crowd and kneeled as well.

"My father?" Percy asked bewildered.

"Poseidon," said Chiron. "Earthshaker, Stormbringer, Father of Horses. Hail, Perseus Jackson, Son of the Sea God!"

Percy gapped at the centaur in disbelief. "M-My dad is…" he trailed off.

Suddenly I felt something buzzing in my ear. A light was glowing above me. Everyone had looked at me in surprise as they saw a light slowly flicker above my head, too blurry to make out an image.

"Another determination!" One of the Hermes kids exclaimed.

Everyone looked at me, eager to find out who my godly parent was. I didn't look up, scared and nervous on this new information, not sure if I was ready to finally find out who my dad was.

Suddenly everyone's faces turned shocked and pale, if they had been shocked when Percy had been determined they were a thousand times more surprised now.

Suddenly nature spirits and satyrs appeared out of the woods, looks of awe and pure shock etched into their faces. Some of them looked ready to faint, I noticed Grover among them. He was staring at me wide-eyed with awe, as though I was some sort of savior.

"I-Impossible!" Chiron exclaimed as he looked at the image above my head with shock, his face pale. "It can't be!"

Mr. D popped into existence besides the old centaur, a look of disbelief written all over his face. He even dropped his Diet Coke in surprise.

I finally glanced up and saw the symbol.

It was a shepherd's crook glowing in a dark green light. The smell of spring and the forest seemed to overwhelm the clearing as the wind blew gently.

"How is this possible!" Chiron exclaimed. "The stories, the rumors, it was all a lie?" he trailed off.

Even Annabeth looked stunned. "How? He can't be his, it's just not possible. He's supposed to be dead! He was said to be dead thousands of years ago!"

"It seems we were wrong." Mr. D said, "this energy… It's _his._ I know it." He declared as he popped open another Diet Coke and took a hearty swig from it, though judging by his expression he deeply wished it contained alcohol.

I quickly tried to remember what the shepherds crook stood for, or more importantly, who it stood for. When it clicked I felt like I had been hit by a train. My dad… he was…

Chiron bowed again, all around him campers, satyrs, and nature spirits alike bowed deeply to me.

"Pan." Chiron announced, shock still evident. "The Lost God. God of the Wild, Shepherds, and all living wild creatures. Hail, Jordan Hunter. Son of the Wild!"

**Hope you liked this chapter. Yep Jordan is the Son of Pan, probably made it very obvious but still hope you like it. Truth is I have never seen any child of Pan stories (trust me I've looked) and so I decided to write my own. **

**Hope my reactions were good, I may rewrite that later on. And for those wondering about the marks on Clarisse's armor, did you really think that I would not give Jordan a power? It won't be revealed for awhile but it will be worth the wait.**


	8. Poll

**Hey guys, Ninja here, sorry for all those who thought this would be a new chapter and are currently cursing my name (trust me, hate it when those happen too). But I'm currently stuck on one thing, and that is where Jordan is going to live now everyone knows he's Pan's son.**

**I originally thought of having Pan make him his own cabin (please don't flame and say Pan would never do that, I think he would for his son even though he doesn't have much power left) and thus there would be 14 cabins instead of the original 13 for the Olympians. **

**But as I think about it I'm thinking how Jordan staying in either the Hermes cabin and taken in by another cabin would help show Jordan and you guys as the readers how the undetermined or those of a minor parentage feel, and no Jordan will **_**not**_** work for Kronos, but he will understand their point. Even though in the books Percy feels bad for them, he never really got to know the problem or was really friends with any undetermined or those who had minor gods as parents, so I have decided to turn to my readers.**

**I'm putting up a poll on my channel (or page, whatever you call it in fanfiction) with either Yes for his own cabin or No and having him stay in either the Hermes cabin or being allowed in a different cabin, probably Demeter or Dionysus since they are both more nature based than the other Olympians.**

**I'd really love and appreciate if you voted, not only does it show that you care enough about my story to take around ten seconds to vote but it will help me get back on track with the story.**

**Thanks again, and if you guys do want him to not have his own cabin but don't want him in the Hermes cabin please PM to tell me what cabin you want him to be in, but please note it can't be Zeus, Artemis, or any other empty cabins seeing as there are no campers to let him in.**


	9. The Council of Cloven Elders

"_Pan." Chiron announced, shock still evident. "The Lost God. God of the Wild, Shepherds, and all living wild creatures. Hail, Jordan Hunter. Son of the Wild!"_

I had to admit, at that moment in the woods, with the symbol of my father shining over my head like the bat signal, I wanted to faint, very much.

My father was _Pan,_ the Lost God, please note the word 'Lost' as in nada, zip, nothing. I wasn't exactly the best with remembering every single story in Greek mythology (though I did try though, ADHD just got in the way), I knew that Pan was supposed to be dead. The whole story was that a sailor named Thamus heard a voice telling him to spread the word that the great god Pan was dead. When he did so everyone was saddened at the death, but they believed it, everyone believed it.

But now… it was all a lie? I was pretty sure dead men, or gods, couldn't be going around America having kids, and Mr. D did say that the energy surrounding the symbol was none other than Pan himself.

Despite the shock deep inside me I knew it was the truth. I thought back to all my times in the woods, how I never felt scared under the trees, how every creature I met treated me differently than other humans, the mother bear, the rabbit outside of Yancy. I was even saved by the forest creatures when Lamia tried to kill me. They protected me. Their Lord's son.

It made too much sense. My powers with nature, whenever I get angry the wind start to blow bringing forth the smell of nature itself, heck maybe that's why my eyes always changed colors. Like the seasons but more of the nature aspect, like my mom always told me.

_Crap!_ I thought frantically. _My mom, she doesn't know where I am! How in the seven layers of Hades did I forget to tell my mother that I'm at a camp for half gods… did my mom even know about this world or had she been like me, ignorant?_

_No, she knew…_ There was that little voice in the back of my head again. _She always knew, she knew about dad, how worried she got when I told her about the Grizzly bear saving me, she knew that my scent was strengthening by it and wanted me to get away from it, to protect me. She knew and understood about Lamia, she took me away again, kept me safe…._

I felt like the stuff you found on your shoe but was too disgusted to get it off, how could I forget about my mom? She must be freaking out, I was supposed to call her halfway through the vacation we never got to have... but I had to stop my inner mother/son drama seeing as about a hundred or so nature spirits and satyrs were still staring at me as though I was their savior.

"Uhmmm…" I stumbled out, the symbol had started to die down and was flickering weakly. "Hi?" I offered weakly with an even weaker wave.

The nature spirits and satyrs seemed to sink even lower than before, I was beginning to worry that they would burrow their heads in the ground. "Uhhh, Chiron, little help?" I begged the old centaur who was shocked out of whatever thoughts had been going inside his head.

"The game is over, everyone return to your cabins." He commanded while every camper groaned. "That is the same for nature spirits and satyrs alike." Said magical creatures looked ready to have a full riot, but thankfully Chiron saved both me and Percy by leading us away from the crowd.

The next hour was a blur; Chiron had Percy pack up his sparse belongings, before directing him to Cabin Three, where he would now live in as Poseidon's only child.

"What about me?" I asked the centuries old centaur.

"You will remain in the Hermes cabin, seeing as your father is not an Olympian." Chiron replied.

I frowned, "wait so even kids who were determined but their parents weren't Olympians still have to live in the Hermes cabin? That doesn't seem right."

"It is the way things are, Jordan. Sometimes change is good, but tradition shall always remain among the Greek, you can see Greek traditions in nearly every empire after Greece's decline, it will always remain with us," Chiron said wisely.

_That doesn't make it good or right._ I thought before glancing around and scooting closer to Chiron, "Uhh should we get SWAT to hold down the fort?" I whispered to him.

Chiron glanced around and saw the hidden faces of nature spirits and satyrs alike watching us from the shadows, well more like watching me. I really hope they wouldn't become stalkers, my life was weird enough without trees and satyrs tracking my every move.

"You will be fine, Jordan." He said calmly, "you have quite possibly been the greatest surprise of the millennium, you are proof."

"Of what?" I asked.

Chiron smiled at me, "ask your friend Grover, he will be more than happy to tell you."

I groaned, "again with the cryptic? You may be a centaur and my middle school Latin teacher, but you are not Batman, Chiron. There is such a thing as simply telling someone the whole story instead of the beginning, ya know?"

Chiron chuckled, "you are an amusing person, Jordan. Much like your father before you."

I nearly tripped but managed to stay upright, "y-you knew my dad?" I asked, internally wincing at the tone of my voice, it sounded like that five year old boy who would ask his mom where his daddy was, that wasn't me.

"Of course I knew, pardon me, _know_ your father. I am immortal, I taught all of the heroes of old, and yes I knew and talked with many gods and goddesses, your father included." Chiron said.

"What was he like?" Hey I think I had the right to know at least something about my dad, and Chiron _did_ know him.

Chiron suddenly stopped, making me stop as well, the old centaur gazed into the now dark woods with a look that was thinking of passed times. "He was…. Very much like you, in fact." He said surprising me.

"Wait so he was a hockey loving vegetarian with an unhealthy addiction to Mountain Dew and Ginger Ale?"

Chiron chortled, "no, I'm afraid hockey had yet to be invented by mankind when your father had apparently 'died'. Though I bet he would have loved the sport, his hooves made him surprisingly agile and fast on ice. No I mean more in personality and looks. He was a very caring god, unlike some of the other gods he always helped heroes and mortals alike, and as it is obvious to satyrs and nature spirits he was a very caring Lord. He loved nature and those that dwelled within his realms, he protected everyone, from the small mouse to the deadly lion, he loved each and everyone of them and would protect them. He also had a sense of humor, not even Hades himself could keep a straight face when your father said a joke."

Despite myself I could help but laugh, "really, my dad made the Lord of the Dead laugh? He doesn't sound like the most cheerful person in the world."

Chiron laughed as well, "indeed, Hades was roaring in laughter though I forgot the joke after so many centuries, Hades threatened me with eternal damnation if I ever brought it up whenever I was with his brothers."

Chiron looked at me warmly. "You also share a strong resemblance to him. Your eyes even change color." Noticing my shocked look he continued on, "yes I noticed that yesterday you had green eyes and now you have blue eyes, I've been a teacher for thousands of years, I notice everything about my students." He explained.

I winced, "wow a teacher for over a thousand or so years? I feel for you, teach."

"Being a teacher for a long time may not seem like a valuable prospect to you, Jordan. But to me it defines who I am, I am Chiron the teacher, I teach half-bloods like you to survive, blend in with mortals, and much more a demigod needs to know." Chiron explained.

"Can you make a wicked cup of coffee?" I asked with a raised brow. "Don't lie, I've been able to smell coffee on you since we first met," I tapped the bridge of my nose with my index finger. "I have a very keen sense of smell."

Chiron raised a brow, before smiling. "A very keen sense indeed, I haven't had a cup since I moved back here from my little excursion as your Latin teacher. I guess that since Pan is your father you have heightened senses, a very valuable skill but don't forget its set backs." He warned. "And yes I do make a mean cappuccino."

Chiron suddenly winced, "I'm not allowed to have any coffee due to the fact that if any of the campers even have a sip of caffeine it turns…. Chaotic."

I laughed despite myself, even though this man, centaur, in front of me was completely different there was still the same old cool Mr. Brunner there. My eyes suddenly drooped as though my body was finally getting the signal I was dead tired.

_Oh yeah. I was the beat up sack for half the Ares cabin before I went ninja on their ugly mugs. And then a hound straight from the pits of hell tried to turn my best friend into dog kibble, extra tender._ I remembered faintly.

Chiron seemed to instantly notice my eyes closing against my will and said, "I believe you should go to bed now, Jordan. You've been through a lot today."

"That's the understatement of the millennium." I muttered sleepily as I slowed walked back to Cabin Eleven while Chiron returned to the Big House.

The second I went into the Hermes cabin all conversations went quiet as everyone stared at me. _Great, thanks for being so obvious you were talking about me,_ I thought as I looked around for my sleeping bag on my spot but noticed it was gone along with my stuff.

"Who took my stuff?" I asked before zeroing in on the Stoll twins who were by far the best thieves in the whole cabin. The two whistled innocently while they looked up at the faded ceiling.

Luke stepped forward with a smile, but with his scar it looked more like a pained grimace. "We moved it to another place." When he saw my confused look he continued on, "we have this little tradition, I guess you could call it a rite of passage, where when anyone is claimed by a minor god or goddess, not that I would call your dad a minor god without having the Naiads dumping half the bottom of the lake on my bed or being pelted with acorns by the Dryads." Luke quickly added as everyone was one hundred percent sure the nature spirits would do that if they even got Pan's name confused with the baking spray Pam.

The last kid who did that had apparently been pelted with acorns and pinecones to nearly the point of maiming.

"And this rite of passage is?" I asked warily, not sure if they had decided to dump all my clothes in the lake and my sleeping bag on Zeus's fist.

"Well since all the bunk beds are taken, you cant get a bed but you can get a spot not in the middle of the floor. Those are for the newbies, and with you being determined you don't have to struggle to get to your spot every day and night," a son of Hermes, _Collin_ if I remembered correctly, explained to me.

Collin then pointed to a spot that was less crowded, sure enough I saw all of my stuff put against the wall.

For some odd reason I felt a thump in my throat, even though it wasn't too big of a deal I was still pretty touched that the Hermes kids gave me my own less crowded spot, I felt closer to everyone now. We _were_ all related, but now I felt like some of these people were my family.

The second I went into my sleeping bag I was out like a light, I definitely deserved to catch a couple Z's for all the trouble that happened tonight.

**[][][][][][][][][][][][][][][][][][][][][][][][][] [][][][][][][][][][][][][][][][][][][][][][][][][] [][][][][][][][][][][]**

The next time I saw Grover could either be described as hilarious or unnerving. The second I woke up I quickly put on my new Camp Half-Blood T-shirt and headed towards Cabin Three where Percy was just heading out.

"Hey Sea Breeze!" I greeted happily while Percy tried to blink the sleep out of his eyes.

"Sea Breeze?" he asked confused.

I nodded my head happily. "Yeah, since you're a child of the Big Three, the oh so scary son of the Sea, Shaker of the Earth, blah blah blah. I decided you needed a scary nickname." I explained with a wide grin.

"So you chose… Sea Breeze. How is that scary?"

"Because you're so terrifying, what with your five foot three stature, the build of a string bean. What is more terrifying than a gentle ocean current?" I said.

"I… don't get you sometimes, Jordan."

I nodded my head and patted the boy on the shoulder. "Don't worry. When you get older you'll get less slow. Annabeth told me you're just haven't 'flourished ' yet in the mental areas."

I dodged Percy's half-hearted punch with a laugh.

"It sounds like Febreeze," the son of Poseidon complained.

"Well if they had a brand called 'stinky pre-teen camper godling that has yet to discover deodorant' then you would fit right in." I said as I wrinkled my nose in mock horror complete with mock gag.

"Well what about you, chicken man!" Percy rounded.

I blinked. "Chicken man?"

"Yeah, your dad is the god of the Wild and the creatures that dwell within them, right?" at my nod the dark-haired pre-teen continued. "Well chickens can live in the woods, thus that is your new nickname."

"I just can't believe you know the word 'dwell'. Annabeth has been rubbing off on you!" I crowed, "I love that daughter of Athena. Oh remind me to ask her to tutor you during the school year so I won't have too."

"What is this about me?" The two of us turned around to see Annabeth walking up to us with a curious look in her grey eyes.

"Ah, Annabeth, I was just telling Perce how I was in love with you." I said casually while Annabeth raised a brow, not really believing my normal antics, but to my surprise when she looked at Percy all she had was a look of annoyance, as though Percy had hidden her knife at the bottom of the lake.

"Why?" The daughter of Athena asked suspiciously.

I ignored the wariness laced within her tone and merely smiled at her. "You taught Percy a new word. I'm so proud of you!" I quickly gave her a big bear hug.

"J-Jordan, you're c-crushing me." Annabeth sputtered out, her face turning red from lack of oxygen.

"Oh, sorry." I quickly put down the child of wisdom before she tried to gut me with her knife, something I knew she would try if I didn't get out of the way fast enough.

The conch horn sounded, signaling that breakfast was ready for the hungry demigods. We quickly headed up with the other campers, but I was quick to notice the stares.

For those looking at me they were looking in shock, as though still not believing my father was the Lost God, even with Mr. D saying that its true.

Actually, scratch that last comment. I would rather believe one of Grover's lies than believe Mr. D on, well, anything really. But I guess the _one_ time Mr. D says something it has to be the new kid being the son of a god long thought dead. Couldn't he have just said something about wine or Diet Coke?

Percy's onlookers were way different. Where mine where curious with a hint of awe, they treated Percy like he was covered in sewage water. Like he was the Plague.

I guess it made sense. Grover had always told us how the Camp's magical borders kept out the hungry monsters from making half-blood pies, besides those stocked in the woods Camp Half-Blood was the safest place on the earth for our kind.

But apparently that wasn't the case anymore. Somehow a hellhound, not a little Yorkie but a hellish hound straight from the pits of hell with eyes the color of magma, claws able to cleave my body in half, and a very large appetite for demigods, had somehow manage to get past the magical barrier and attack Percy, a child of the Big Three. Which apparently was a big no no in todays time.

For the campers it proved one thing, monsters wouldn't stop at the barriers, they would get in, just to kill Percy because he smelled more power and more appetizing than anyone else.

It scared them. Heck, it scared me as well. But that was because I was afraid for Percy. Sure the kid could get a little dense and I would have to pull him out of the trouble that he had himself into, but he was my best friend. He was like the brother I never had, and knowing that he had a hit on him just because his dad was Poseidon made me worried for him.

It was only when my feet hit the hard and polished marble that I realized we had reached the pavilion. Before any of us, including Annabeth, could even move I saw a familiar scraggly face among the campers heading towards us.

"Grover, there you are buddy!" I greeted with a raised hand, not noticing the trembling in my goat-legged friend.

Grover seemed to jolt at the sound of my voice, and before I knew it he was face first on the marble floor, arms spread in what I assumed was a deep bow.

"My Lord!" He stuttered out a greeting as he continued to stay in his submissive position as though I was some famous royal family member, heck he was acting like I was the Pope come to bless him.

I blinked. "Waaah?"

Apparently that wasn't a good answer as Grover continued to grovel at my feet. "I apologize for treating you so casually my Lord!" He cried out for forgiveness, "I suspected it since I first met you, but I didn't give you the respect you so rightfully deserve!" If his head could go any lower it would be burrowed into the hard marble. "Please forgive me, my Lord!"

The whole pavilion had gone quiet, I was aware of at least a hundred gazes burning into me, wondering what I was going to do.

I leaned over to Percy and whispered in his ear. "Grover's gone all weird on us, what should we do? Call the Ancient Greek nine-one-one?"

"I don't think they have a hotline for frantic Satyr and confused son of Pan in the YellowBook… Plus half-bloods can't use phones." Percy muttered back.

With a sigh I glanced down to the still bowed satyr. "Grover," I said casually, "I would be careful if I were you. You may mess up your face by the way your grounding it against the stone." I held out my hand to the satyr.

Grover was looking at my hand as though not believing his eyes. I guess he seemed to have forgotten the teeny tiny detail of him being one of my best friends and have been for half a year

Grover tentatively grabbed my hand, his big brown eyes were misty as though he was trying not to cry.

I cracked a grin. "What? Hey guess what, my dad is a satyr too! That makes us like brothers or something."

Looking back on that statement I realized I shouldn't have told Grover he was somewhat related to me and my dad, because the second I finished that sentence Grover's eyes rolled up and he promptly fainted right there on the spot.

Luckily a couple nature spirits came forward and dragged the poor satyr away so Grover wouldn't get trampled on by passing campers. "Was it something I said?" I asked Percy in confusion as we watched Grover being dragged away towards the Big House where he would be fed some nectar so he didn't get a concussion.

"Satyrs and the nature spirits all adore your father, they were the only ones who didn't believe your father actually died. Seeing as you are proof that your father actually _is_ alive is a major turn of events for them. And there is no satyr more loyal to your father than Grover," Annabeth explained.

"Really?" I asked in curiosity before something dawned on me, "Does this have to do anything with Grover's career? Something about a searcher's license?"

Annabeth nodded, "yeah… It's not just a career to Grover, it's his dream. I shouldn't be the one to explain it, that right belongs to Grover and to Grover alone. Don't worry I'm sure he'll tell you guys. Its obvious you three are close."

"If you three are done didly dandling." We turned around to see Mr. D looking down at us from his seat, "you should go to your seats." It wasn't a statement, more like a command.

We all muttered agreements to appease the God of Wine, none of us were in the mood to be turned into grape juice or diet refreshments.

I sat at my normal spot at the Hermes table. Annabeth rejoined her siblings at the Athena table, poor Percy had to sit at the Poseidon table alone seeing as he had no other siblings.

Once when Mr. D saw that everyone had taken his seats he cleared his throat, everyone's attention immediately turned to the god of wine. "Yes, yes. Seeing as some of you have some questions concerning last nights capture the flag, well I can't tell you anything besides the fact that old barnacle brain and Pan ended up having kids, whop-de-do."

Despite myself I couldn't help but roll my eyes, leave it up to Mr. D to make a big deal (apparently), and managed to make it look like an everyday occurrence.

Chiron then announced the canoe races would take place next Tuesday, I zoned out after that and just decided to drink my orange juice from the never ending goblets. When the Hermes cabin got their food and headed towards the brazier I threw in a bunch of grapes and prayed to my father. _Uh, dad? Not sure if you can hear me, seeing as your supposed to be dead but you can't be dead 'cause I'm here… uhm, you mind going godly being and make a phone or a skype account so we could talk?_

Did gods have phones or accounts? For that I head no idea, I liked to think so. As long as dad didn't have a MySpace, that's as ancient as the period people thought he was dead.

I didn't notice the young satyr until after breakfast, the rest of the campers got up but I saw him sitting in front of me nervously. I looked up from the eggs I had been picking with my fork, when I met his gaze the satyr flinched and looked away, his trembling hands handed me a scroll.

"What's this?" I asked as I looked at the wax seal on the parchment, it was in the shape of a laurel wrapped around a shepherds crook.

"The Council has summoned you, My Lord." The satyr stuttered out, his furry hindquarters shaking.

"Who?"

The satyr blinked as though confused, "T-The Council of Cloven Elders, sir."

It then hit me like a bolt of lightning what he meant, those satyr people whose judgment decided Grover's future of being a searcher, which I still did not know about.

"Okay, so where is this council?" I asked as I unrolled the scroll thinking it was a map, but know it was just a letter. It was in Ancient Greek so at least I wouldn't have a headache for the day.

_Lords Leneus, Maron, and Silenus,_

_Have welcomed you to a private meeting to discuss your heritage and what it means for the world and those who dwell within it._

_Please consider this to be a great honor, no half-blood has ever been truly welcomed and called upon by the Council._

_Searcher Bill_

After reading it the only thing I could say was, "You have a searcher named Bill?" I asked curiously to the young messenger whose ears turned bright red at the attention I was giving him.

The satyr nodded shyly, I sighed. "Why do you guys keep doing that?" I snapped, I didn't mean to be rude but wherever I went the satyrs were bowing to me and acting as though I was some king, heck even Grover was bowing to me before I told him to get up off his furry rump!

"S-Sorry, m-m Lord," The satyr managed to say with slightly less stuttering.

I sighed yet again and pinched the bridge of my nose. "Close enough." I conceded with weary defeat.

I followed the satyr to the woods, but it wasn't a place I recognized even with my small experience of wandering in my free time and of course the whole capture the flag. As we walked farther and farther through the groves of trees, I could see Nymphs poking their heads out of trees as they watched the two of us walk by with bright green eyes the color of chlorophyll.

The young satyr, who could only be a couple years older than Grover I realized, led me through a tunnel of old willows, past a little waterfall, and into a glade blanketed with wild flowers.

Inside the glade were three figures sitting upon what I assumed were thrones, I then knew that these three were the Council, the Lords of the Wild as the messenger had told me.

Whenever I thought about the people who held the fate of Grover's destiny within their hands I always thought they would be giant satyrs of incredible height, their horns aged and bigger than a rams, maybe even some satyr on horse steroids (or goat steroids?).

What I didn't expect to see were three overweight satyrs who looked as old as time itself. Their thrones were shaped out of rose bushes, their blossoms one of the many vivid colors in the clearing.

I then realized that the satyr that had brought me here had left, I was alone in a glade with three overweight goat-men who apparently held power over the satyrs, including one of my best friends.

After what seemed like a lifetime of silence the satyr on the right spoke. "Welcome, Jordan Hunter. Son of our Lord Pan." His voice reminded me of a mix between a bleat and a rumble, maybe that's what satyrs sounded like when they finished puberty and hit granny goathood?

"Uh, hi?"

The one in the middle shifted ever so slightly on his rose bush throne, "Surprised we are of your existence. Never would we believe that Lord Pan would have a child, a half-blood child too." His watery eyes seemed to stare at me without blinking, making me painfully remember Lamia, "You're existence has spread throughout the world like wildfire, satyrs and nature spirits have been in high spirits and celebrations have been noticed from all over the world." His eyes seemed to alight, "Lord Pan has brought us an omen, you." As he said this the satyr on the left, the one who had yet to speak, leaned forward and inspected me as though expecting me to suddenly grow horns and start tap dancing.

"Me?" My mouth suddenly felt dry, "I'm just a kid." I weakly protested. I wasn't that important, I was an ADHD and dyslexic preteen vegetarian with the knack of finding trouble almost anywhere. Why were people celebrating my existence?

"You are proof." The satyr in the middle explained patiently, "Proof that Lord Pan is not dead, as humankind had believed. Everywhere more and more satyrs and nature spirits are taking up the greatest honor of our kind, a searcher."

It then hit me like a rampaging Minotaur on what a searcher was. Why Grover always seemed too hopeful about my parentage. The term searcher itself, I had just thought it meant finding more half bloods. "You guys are trying to find him… My father." I said the last part with a mumble, it would take a while to accept the fact that a mythological Greek god of the wilderness and those that dwelled within the forest was my dad. What am I supposed to get him for father's day? A birdbath maybe? Maybe a tie with forests on them?

The middle satyr nodded his head. "For thousands of years we have searched every last piece of the wilderness in hopes of finding your father, hoping to wake him up from his slumber and to have him save us and the world from mankind's destruction."

"But he isn't asleep… is he? I mean I'm here and that means that well… he couldn't have been asleep the whole time," I said with a red face, I'd rather not think of how my mom and dad… ya know.

The one of the right spoke again, "We believe that Lord Pan may have appeared to your mother in a different form, a god is capable of great things, shapeshifting is one of them."

"But why?" I protested, I knew some of the myths of Pan and never had there been a half-blood child of his. "If he's supposed to be dead or at least pretending to be, then why was he with my mom and having a kid?"

"We do not know." The one on the right said.

_Thank you mister know it all,_ I thought sarcastically.

I looked at my tennis shoes, "So why am I here?" I asked.

"We have an offer for you," the one in the middle said gravely as though he was about to tell me of my fate and demise. "Never before has there been a half-blood of Lord Pan, perhaps you appearing before this camp with his symbol blazing above you is an omen from the wild god. Perhaps you will be the one to succeed where others have failed."

I realized what he meant. "You think _I'm_ going to be the one to find Pan, my dad?" I asked in disbelief.

"That or you could lead someone to him," The one of the left said with impatience.

"So what's your offer?" I asked curiously wondering if this was the reason I was here.

The three elderly satyrs shifted on their makeshift thrones, "Never before has there been a half-blood son of Pan," the satyr repeated. "Perhaps this omen is an omen of change…" The three elders looked at me with eyes that spoke of centuries of ruling. "Maybe three will become four… Your destiny could lie with ruling side by side with us, as a Lord of the Wild."

**Wow, its been awhile since I've updated this fic. Sorry guys, summer has been a bit busy for me (School work and all that fun stuff), not to mention my personal life. Not to mention the writers block I had, I'm still not sure if I like the first person P.O.V. The joys of being a perfectionist with OCD, especially with my writing. Life hates me, huh? Since this is the first story where I have done first person tell me if you think its good or not.**

**Hope you liked this chapter, and since the poll has long ended Jordan will be moving to a different cabin. The beginning of the quest will begin next chapter after the meeting with the Council is over. I know you guys are looking forward to the actual quest, I'm thinking of writing another story that features Jordan and the other's adventures at camp, what do you think?**


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